


Reversal of Fate

by Aerilon452



Category: The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001)
Genre: Angst, Carnahan's being crazy, Complete, F/M, Modern Day, Mystery, O'Connell Family Drama, Reincarnated bodies, Romance, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2019-12-25 15:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 46,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18263960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerilon452/pseuds/Aerilon452
Summary: It's been 80 years and destiny isn't through with them yet. This time, however, things go differently and the heroes of this tale were once considered the villains.





	1. Chapter 1

It was just another day. Sun was taking time away from work to come and listen to a guest lecturer speak about ancient Egypt – specifically the era of Pharaoh Seti the I. Her friend, Lyla, accompanied her, but it wasn’t history she was interested it. It was the frat boys she liked to flirt with and sometimes the professors, if they were cute enough for her. Until the guest speaker started, Sun was going to sit and read her book. 

Ten minutes later, a hush fell over the hall. Sun didn’t even glance up. She kept reading even though Lyla started nudging her. “What?” she hissed, glancing at her friend. But a glance was all it took. She saw the man at the front of the hall; tall, bald, and imposing. Most of all, he was familiar to her. His eyes captured her attention and she couldn’t look away.

Tom hadn’t wanted to come to give yet another lecture on Seti the I. His colleague and friend, Andrew, had wheedled and cajoled him until he had no choice but to agree to one last lecture. Stepping inside to the sound of students chattering away about truly inane things made him bristle and grind his teeth. He set his briefcase down on the table, then stepped up to the podium.

In a few seconds, Tom’s glower silenced every single hushed conversation. He scanned most of the young faces until he came to one that he couldn’t look away from. Her dark eyes were captivating. As he started to speak, his eyes kept tracking back to her, gaging her reactions to his words. She never looked away from him, nor he from her.

The lecture ended, and everyone got up to leave. Sun was cut off from the guest professor by a sea of students. When she managed to catch a glimpse of him, but he was being carried along on the tide. “Damnit!” Sun snarled. 

“What?” Lyla asked, suddenly confused. 

“I lost track of him,” Sun grumbled. 

“Who?” Lyla asked, shrugging, further conveying her confusion. 

“The speaker,” Sun stated sharply. 

“Oh, him. You were staring at him pretty hard. Were you going to ask him out for a drink?” Lyla teased. It was rare for her best friend to have drinks with strangers. For Lyla, drinks often led to one-night stands, and that suited her just fine. Sun wasn’t into that sort of thing.

“What…? No!” Sun exclaimed. In all honesty, she didn’t know why she was avidly searching for him through the thinning crowd. There was something pulling her towards him, and she wasn’t fighting it. Finally, the students all filed out, but the man she sought was gone. “Where is he?”

“Maybe he had another engagement?” Lyla suggested. “He was pretty hot for a bald man,” she commented, hoping to get Sun’s attention, but she didn’t rise to the bait. 

Sun’s shoulders slumped, feeling her lips turn down in a frown. She crouched down to pick up her bag as she said to her friend, “Let’s go.”

 

THE NIGHT:

 

Tom sat across from Andrew while they were out at a local restaurant. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he was brooding. After his lecture, he tried to find the woman, but she had all but disappeared. Who was she? Why had she come to the class? She had been so mesmerizing that he hadn’t been able to look away from her for long. She had long black hair, dusky desert skin, and those eyes; black pools he could fall into. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d met before. 

Andrew had been slumped back in his chair for the last twenty minutes watching his friend scowl at the glass of wine that he hadn’t touched. In a huff, he kicked Tom under the table, albeit lightly. “Hey, what gives?” he asked

Tom groaned, rubbing at his shin. “What?” he said, scowling. 

“We’ve been sitting in silence for the last twenty minutes. I’m bored,” Andrew whined. 

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Tom replied softly. 

“You got a girl on your mind. Don’t think I didn’t see the one you were looking at all through your lecture.” Andrew admittedly had been staring at the other one. 

Tom’s attention shifted to his friend and colleague. “Do you know who she is?” he asked hopefully. 

“Not her name, per se, but I’ve seen her more than a few times attending my classes. I get the feeling she’s got an obsession with ancient Egypt,” Andrew casually mentioned. He noticed the server coming towards them with their food. 

“Damn…” Tom growled. 

“Why is this so important to you?” Andrew asked as he spread his napkin in his lap.

“I don’t know…” Tom answered honestly. He couldn’t stop thinking about her intense eyes. The way she stared at him, it felt like the most intimate of caresses, as if it was something forbidden. “I just can’t get her out of my head, Andrew.” 

Andrew could see that, and he’d known Tom for more than fifteen years. “Let me make a few calls and see what I can find out about her.”

“You would do that for me?” Tom asked almost in pure disbelief.

“You’re my oldest – only – friend. If I don’t help you, then I’m a schmuck.” Andrew laughed just as their food was being set down in front of them.

 

ONE WEEK LATER:

 

Sun sat at her desk distracted for the thousandth time by the professor who had captured her attention last week. Whenever she tried to think of him by name, her mind drew a blank. There was another name lingering on the tip of her tongue that was dying to be spoken. Trouble was, she didn’t know what it was. It was frustrating to say the least. And Lyla was no help. She kept going on and now about how Dr. Andrew Combs was sexy. Sun just tuned her out.

When Sun wasn’t thinking about him, she could swear she was being watched. It was a foolish feeling, but one she couldn’t shake. At the oddest times she would see men wearing strange red clothing walking on the same street as her, or in the same café. She had even seen one of “red” men on the subway with her. It had taken everything she had not to go right up to the man following her and punch him in the face. Shaking her head, she pushed away from her desk, and announced, “I need coffee. You want some?”

Lyla looked up at Sun from the opposite desk in the super cubicle they shared. “Sure, if you’re buying?” she asked, adding a gentle laugh. It was like working/living with a zombie the last week. Ever since that lecture, her friend hadn’t been the same. Dazed, often lost in thought. Lyla couldn’t understand it. “Would you also get me a cherry turn over, please?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes in an adorable, overly dramatic manner. It had always made Sun laugh in the past. 

“Sure,” Sun replied in the same sweet tone, rewarding Lyla with a light giggle. She knew it hadn’t been easy for her friend the last week. Her mind wouldn’t let go of the man she spent an hour listening to. His voice, even now, whispered in the back of her mind; speaking to her in a lost language that she had been taught when she’d been a child. 

Sun headed towards the bank of elevators, trying not to look around for strange men wearing red. If she had had the nerve, she would have called the police, but they probably would have called her crazy. It was best she kept it to herself until the feeling finally abated. This had to be related to the professor, to the strange way she had kept staring at him. She couldn’t shake the feeling she knew him. 

Outside, at a coffee cart, Tom had been taking an afternoon stroll when some gut feeling had him stopping to get a cup. It had been a week since Andrew had promised to ask around about the mystery woman from his lecture. So far, his friend was failing him. Andrew had been caught up in a heated dalliance with a secretary from the math department, and that left Tom to brood over the weekend. He should have known better than to believe Andrew would follow through on his promise.

Tom had taken over two more classes for his friend, so that Andrew might spend some time getting his wick licked. He had hoped that news of his prolonged stay might have somehow reached his mystery woman, but to no avail. She hadn’t shown up. But someone else had. A strange man, garbed in red, wearing a medallion that proclaimed him to be “Red Guard”. There was this niggling feeling at the back of Tom’s mind. He should know them. Another feeling told him not to trust the man in red. He was going to heed that gut warning. 

Sun was half way to the coffee cart outside her temporary workplace when she came up short. Ten feet away was the man she couldn’t stop thinking about. He held a cup of coffee halfway to his lips, but the moment their eyes connected, everything around them stopped. Sounds were muted. People slowed. All she could see was the mystery professor. Then, as if there was this extraordinary force pulling them towards each other, her feet began to move. She didn’t need to watch where she was going. Her feet were surefooted as they carried her ever closer to the man she didn’t know yet knew better than anyone. 

Tom set the coffee cup back on the cart. The moment she took her first step, he took his as well. The sound of the traffic couldn’t be heard over the thundering of his heart. He stopped seeing the pedestrians passing him by. All he knew was he had to get to her, to be standing so close to her that they were sharing the same breath. The distance between them finally was erased and he was gazing deeply into her impossibly dark eyes. In this moment, he was nearly afraid to speak, lest his voice disrupt this spell weaving between them. 

For and unknown reason, Sun lifted her right hand, and caressed the air above his face. “Why am I doing this?” she asked, her voice shaky, barely above a whisper. 

Tom lifted her hands, caressing the air above her face. “Probably for the same reason I’m doing this.” This gesture was familiar to both of them, born out of secrecy and fear.

Sun’s entire body warmed in response to his gestured reply. She took one final step, putting her body against his, and her hands resting on his sides. The deep chasm of loneliness she had inside her vanished the moment they touched. She felt as if the missing half of her soul had come back to her. “Do you feel that?” her voice was just a puff of air.

The moment Tom settled his hands on her upper arm it was as if a circuit connected inside him. He sucked in a sharp breath, the feeling nearly overwhelming him. Lightly, he rested his forehead to hers and focused on breathing in time with the woman against him. “How is this possible?” he wondered, his voice sounding giddy.

Sun leaned back, a smile curving her lips. “I don’t even know your name,” she said. Then a flash of something caught her eye. A man in red. Before she let him answer her, she stepped back to take his hand and pull him in the direction of the of the curb. She signaled for a coming taxi. Without even thinking, she laced their fingers together and used her free hand to open the yellow door. She pulled him in after her. To the driver, she rattled off her address, telling him to step on it. 

Tom looked out the smudged window just in time to see a member of the “Red Guard” immerge from the crowd. They had moved so fast that he hadn’t been too sure what was happening until that moment. “I take it they’ve been following you as well?” he asked sarcastically. These men in red were starting to get on his last nerve. 

“You could say that,” Sun replied, rolling her eyes. She sat back in the seat, trying not to think just what she was sitting in, as she rested her head on his shoulder. Automatically, his cheek rested against the top of her head. To the casual observer, they would seem very much like a couple, and not complete strangers.

 

BROWNSTONE:

 

Tom preceded her out of the taxi while his hand still held hers. “This is where you live?” he asked. He never really had a single place to call home anymore. When he wasn’t living in a tent near a dig site, he was traveling to give guest lectures and staying in hotels, or with friends on their couch. 

“This place belongs to my dad,” Sun said. From inside her pants pocket, she pulled out her keys. Before she led him to her front door, she looked up and down the street for signs of men wearing red. Right now, anyone would be suspicious. When she was relatively sure they weren’t being watched, she tugged on his hand, leading him to number ten.

“What does he do?” Tom asked, watching her unlock the first set of double doors. 

“This and that,” Sun answered cryptically. 

Tom chuckled. “That’s not shady at all.” He followed her inside and was immediately hit with a wall of warmth and welcoming. This was what a home should feel like. 

“It’s nothing sinister, I promise,” Sun replied sweetly while she relocked the inner double doors and set the security panel. She pulled out her phone, shooting off a text to Lyla, letting her know that she wouldn’t be back to work and that she would make up for not bringing her coffee with dinner at her favorite place. 

Tom was preoccupied with the pictures on the wall. More than a few of them were of his mystery woman in far off places looking very much like an explorer. There were pictures of her in Egypt – Karnak, Luxor, the Island of Philae, and Abu Simbel. All places he’d been too as well. Perhaps they had been there at the same time and just never crossed paths. Then he started seeing a string of older pictures, still from Egypt, but mixed in with family photos from London and Paris. “Your photos tell such a wonderful story,” Tom called out.

“Thank you,” Sun said, slipping her phone back into her pants pocket. She left the entryway and walked down the short hallway where he was still examining her photos. “By the way, I’m Sun O’Connell.” She held out her hand to him in greeting. It was what they should have done on the street. 

Tom smiled at her. “Sun, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Tom Hawass.” He took her hand, lifting it up so that he might place a gentle kiss to her knuckles. All the while, their eyes never broke contact. 

“Egyptian?” Sun asked.

“Yes,” Tom acknowledged. He had an Egyptian father and a French mother. “You too?”

“Born in modern day Luxor,” Sun answered. 

“So was I,” Tom replied with a gentle half laugh. 

Sun motioned him to follow her down the line of pictures to one taken in 1930. “This is my great- grandpa Rick O’Connell and his wife Evy, with their son, Alex.” The photo was of the family standing in front of the great Sphynx at Giza. 

“You’re practically Archeological Royalty,” Tom laughed. Every person in Egyptology knew of the O’Connell family. 

“Adopted, but yes, my last name does cause a shiver of recognition throughout the world,” Sun answered in a cheeky manner. 

“Now that is a story you must tell me,” Tom turned to her, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t see a moment of reservation in her eyes. There was this openness between them that he’d never had with anyone else. He could tell her anything about his life, about his dreams, and he would know she felt the same. It should worry him that he knew this in the very core of his soul. Yet, it didn’t. 

Normally, Sun didn’t talk about her past, her dead parents because she barely remembered it. But with him…She knew she could tell him anything and it wouldn’t change the way he looked at her. Which didn’t make any sense to her because they had only just met. And yet, she felt as if she’d known him her whole life. So, taking a step closer to him, she crossed her arms over her chest and rested leaned against the wall. Her voice was really low as she spoke, “I was orphaned at the age of four. Richard and Laura O’Connell were in Luxor when they witnessed the car crash that killed my parents.”

“Oh, Sun…” Tom’s face fell. “I’m so sorry…”

Sun shook her head and said, “Don’t be. I can’t miss two people I barely remember.” When she was old enough to ask about her first family, her adoptive parents didn’t hide the information from her. They helped her learn all she could about them, to help her make a connection to the country she visited infrequently. 

Moved to touch her, Tom unfolded his arms, and drew her in against his chest. His right hand cupped the back of her head and his left arm starched across her back. She exhaled a shuddering breath and then wrapped her arms around him in turn. He only held her, placing light kisses to her forehead. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he’d held her like this, kisses her just as sweetly. 

 

EVENING:

 

Without much notice, evening was upon them. Sun had heard back from Lyla. She would be staying with a new male conquest of hers and shouldn’t be returning the brownstone until the morning. That gave Sun time. But time for what? In the kitchen she and Tom were sitting at the small dinette table holding hands. She realized pretty quickly that she couldn’t go too long without his touch, without the warmth of his skin bleeding into hers. Then, out of nowhere, her stomach grumbled. They shared a small laugh. “I have a roasted chicken in the fridge. We can heat it up and then you can tell me all about you,” she said as she reluctantly let go of his hand. 

Tom watched her but did not stay in his set. Getting up, he went to the oven and set it to the desired temperature. Then, through the frosted glass of the cabinets, he was able to make out plates and glasses. He got two down and carried them back to the table. Without a word, she handed him silverware and napkins. Again, they shared a smile, and warmth spiked through them when their fingers touched. They looked at each other freely. They touched the same way. There was no need to hide what they were feeling. It wasn’t forbidden to be falling in love. Like they had on the street, he stood a breath apart and she lifted her hand to his face. He savored the whisper of her body heat licking against his face. 

Sun waited for him to return the gesture. The shadow cast by his palms chased away any cold that might have seeped into her skin. She moaned softly, feeling the love from it. The caress just above her face felt like it had been born out of a need to keep something hidden, to keep from betraying themselves. But there was no one around who would care if they touched, or even if they kissed. Sun realized that was what she wanted more than anything. She wanted to kiss him. Cupping his face, she pulled him in close but still their lips didn’t touch. They were sharing the same breath. For some reason she whispered, “We’re free.” 

The last chains restraining Tom’s composure broke. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. She arched into him, her arms draping over his shoulders while his hands traveled down to her waist, keeping her against him. His tongue wept into her mouth, tasting her, teasing her, and promising her more. Minutes later, they were breathless, gasping for air with their brows touching. They would have stared at each other for eternity if the timer on the stove hadn’t dinged to let them know dinner was ready. 

Sun pulled back with a little giggle. She moved to the oven, pulled down the door, and with oven mitts on, she pulled out the baking dish to carry it to the table. He was already sitting, watching her, and his eyes alight with happiness. Today, her heart had never beat with such freedom. She truly felt like herself and it had something to do with Tom Hawass. Even through the elation, she felt a sense of danger swirling just around the edges of their lives. It had to do with another name dying to cross her lips, but she still didn’t know what name it was. 

“What’s on your mind?” Tom asked when she sat down. 

“Do you get the urge to call me by another name?” Sun responded to him. She held his gaze, hoping to see the answer she wanted reflected in his eyes. 

Tom sighed and nodded. “I do, but when I go to speak it, it vanishes like a breath of hot air in a winter wind.”

Content with his answer for now, Sun set about slicing up pieces of chicken. Deeper conversations could wait. Right now, she wanted to know about him, about his life, and where he grew up. “Why become an archeologist?” she asked, leaning back, popping a chunk of roasted chicken in her mouth. 

Tom thought about his answer for a moment. Then, he said, “I read a paper in college about the Princess Nefertiri, and as I devoured the words on the page, I had this sense that I knew more than what was contained on the printed pages. When I had a weekend free, I returned home and set out across the desert to Karnak. It was there I got the first impression of living another life, of loving a woman so strongly I would have done anything for her.” That, more than anything, the promise of love, had driven him to learn about his past. 

Sun understood what he meant. The moment she had set foot in the temple of Karnak, she had been hit with this wave of recognition, as if she had walked through those halls before, accompanied by someone she loved more than life itself. The first time she had been there had been with the rest of her family, with Grandpa Alex regaling them with tales of his youth. She had wandered off from everyone else to explore on her own when she had come across a pool of black water. She found herself transfixed by the sight until her grandfather found her, pulling her back from the edge, and warning her to stay away from it. The fear in his eyes had made her obey more than anything.

“What about you? What do you do?” Tom asked. Her pictures painted her an explorer, but the suit she wore told a different story. 

“I’m an adventurer between adventures at the moment,” Sun answered. The last time she had been on a journey hadn’t turned out so well for her. She was a little shell shocked and her cousin Benjamin was to blame. 

“And in the meantime, you work in an office building?” Tom asked, slightly skeptical that her spirit would allow her to remain idle for so long.

“I think my time there is coming to an end,” Sun replied lightly. She had taken the job on a whim as a way to heal after the ordeal she narrowly survived. The world would still be there when she was ready to lace up her boots and pick up her ruck sack. 

Tom didn’t have to say anything, he understood what she meant. The moment they met on the street today, whatever plans they might have otherwise had were now null and void. Tom had the feeling that he wouldn’t be seeing Andrew again for quite some time. 

A little while later, after the table was cleared, they retired to the second floor where Sun kept a little library. They had glasses of wine and she was showing him some of the various places she’d been to besides Egypt. One picture she was particularly proud of was of her and few others – including Lyla – as they stood in front of chests of Spanish gold that had been brought up from a shipwreck in the Caribbean. One of the last to be discovered. 

“You’re a Jack of all Trades, aren’t you?” Tom chuckled, holding the framed photo. He was seeing her in her diving suit down around her hips, her bikini top, and the goggles atop her wet head. She was smiling and holding a sword aloft. He remembered the story, but he couldn’t remember if he looked at the newspaper article or not. 

“I don’t like to be limited,” Sun replied proudly. She took a sip of her ed wine and continued to watch him from her place on the couch while examined all of her treasures.

In a glass case, Tom saw the same sword from the picture. He half chuckled, half sighed. “They let you keep this?”

“Yeah, as a way of saying ‘Thank you’ for finding all their gold,” Sun answered and then got up to go to him. She rested her cheek on his shoulder, and wrapped her free arm around his lower back, her fingers curling into his navy colored dress shirt. 

Tom lifted his gaze from the mantle, trailing up to more pictures. They showed him a woman who loved life, who loved travel, and loved going to new places. He could tell she wasn’t afraid of a little danger and might actually have tempted death a time or two. 

While he was distracted, Sun took the time to take a peek out the window. Below them, the sidewalk was still devoid of life. In the waning light, it was hard to tell if anyone lurked in the shadows, watching them. She would have to trust that they were safe, for tonight at least. Tomorrow she would have to make a few calls to a few family members. There were questions she needed answered.

“Are we being watched?” Tom asked without even turning around.

“No,” Sun answered, “not that I can see.” 

Tom abandoned his inspection of her photographed life to look at her. It was then he inquired, “Do you know who those men are?”

“I know they’re ‘Red Guard’ and so do you,” Sun had seen the way his eyes had gone to the cartouche pinned to the man’s tie that had followed them to the curb earlier today.

“I do because I can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs,” Tom stated. “What do you know about them?”

“All I know is that they’re a specter from the O’Connell family history. My Grandpa Alex told me of when he was a little boy that a contingent of Red Guard kidnapped him and used him to find Ahm Shere. They tried to free the fabled Scorpion King.” When Sun had been a child, those stories had fired her imagination. She wanted to hear all of her grandpa’s stories. When she had become a teenager, she thought those same stories were fanciful tales cooked up by her eccentric grandfather. Meeting tom made her reassess those beliefs. Just because they were a little farfetched, didn’t mean they weren’t true.

“The lost oasis?” Tom asked even as a faint memory tugged at the back of his mind. 

Before he could ask what happened, Sun said, “Great-Grandpa Rick defeated the Scorpion King and the oasis was reclaimed by Anubis. It’s gone…or so my grandpa says.” 

Tom went to her and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. He could see she wasn’t ready to talk about her complicated family with him yet. She would tell him anything about herself that he wanted to know, but her family was best left alone – for now. “What do we do now?” he asked. He hoped she didn’t want him to leave. The thought of walking out the front door made his stomach twist in knots.

“I’m kind of tired,” Sun answered. She smiled lightly at him and tugged on his hand. Now that she found him, she wasn’t about to let him walk out of her life. She was even less inclined to let him out of her sight with the threat of the Red Guard lingering about. “If you’re not opposed to it, you should stay.” 

“I have nothing to sleep in,” Tom said softly.

“I can fix that,” Sun replied with a smirk. Then she led him to the second set of stairs that would take them to the third floor.

 

SUN’S BEDROOM:

 

Tom wore simple dark grey cotton pajama pants with the hem kissing the floor. Normally, he would have thrown on a t-shirt of some kind, but with her, he wanted to feel as much of her against him as he could. He remembered small things; the feel of her hair against his shoulder, the way she snuggled against him, the weight of her arm draped over his abdomen. His skin craved to feel the light whisper of her breath against his chest. Behind him, the door opened, and he turned. The very air fled his lungs at the sight of her. She wore black satin shorts and a simple black cotton camisole. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought his heart might have stopped beating.

Sun wasn’t prone to blushing, but the way Tom was looking at her had her warming all over and she knew a little color was heating her cheeks. It was short lived because she was now looking him up and down. He was modestly well-muscled; a hint of abs, of biceps. She gave in to the desire she had to touch him. There was no one to see them, no would care that they were together. Her left hand touched the back of his right, but not stay there. It traveled over his wrist and up to his forearm. Her fingers caressed his skin as they continued their trek up to feel the bend in his arm, and then to feel the tensing muscle of his upper arm. Finally, her palm came to rest on his shoulder.

Tom drew her in against him, his hands sliding over her sides to rest against the small of her back. “To think I’ve lived without this for so long…. Honest, deep connection to someone.” When he touched her, it was more than his skin on hers. It was as if their souls were merging together. He looked into her eyes, breathing every time she did. This was more than he thought he would ever feel in his life. 

“I don’t want this to stop,” Sun admitted in a rushed whisper. 

“It won’t,” Tom swore to her. 

Sun pulled back. Taking his hand again, she led him over to her large four poster bed. Each post was carved with different Egyptian symbols and the tops made to look like a different god; Anubis, Sekhmet, Horus, and Bastet. She tugged back the comforter and exposed the crimson satin sheets before letting go of his hand and slipping into bed. Sun stretched out on her side with her head resting on the pillow. Another moment of familiarity. It was as if this was another night long ago where they were alone and stealing time together, daring to sleep in each other’s arms without fear. 

Tom followed her without hesitation. He settled himself down on his back, hissing slightly against the cold satin touching is warm skin. And then she was there, her body against his side, her left leg draping over his, her head resting on his chest. This was so familiar, he could feel her touch burning straight through him. With his left hand he cupped the back of her head, holding her against his chest and with his right, he gripped her left arm as it rested across his abdomen. This night was not one to be stolen, it was to be for them. 

Sun had never felt the power of real love before, not from a man like Tom. It was true they knew nothing about each other, but in some ways, they knew everything. They didn’t need words to convey how they were feeling. Only a single glance would suffice. She knew deep down in her soul that their silent form of communication was born from secrecy and circumstance. The way he was holding her had nothing to do with sex, with the craven need to be seeking pleasure with her. It was simply a need to touch her and to be touched by her. 

Tom listened to her breathing; in and out, growing steadily slower. He fought off the need to slip into the darkness of slumber because he didn’t want to miss a second with her. From the moment he was old enough to understand what it was like to want, he’d craved to be whole. He knew he was missing something vital and Sun, for whatever reason, was the missing piece of his soul. Every second they were together it solidified their bond to each other. Somewhere deep inside, he had a feeling it would be tested, and this time, they would prevail, being made stronger together. Finally, reluctantly, he succumbed to the deepest sleep of his life, holding the woman he was going to love more than life itself.

 

MORNING:

 

Sun woke from an impossibly deep sleep to a strange beeping echoing throughout the brownstone. She fought against opening her eyes for as long as she could. The arms that held her were strong and warm. She didn’t want to get up and leave them. Perhaps it was her imagination dreaming up the beeping sound and if she settled back down, she would fall asleep again. However, that was not to be how her morning was to go. The beeping persisted and with a groan, she opened her eyes. Another deeper, manly groan echoed hers. “So much for a good morning,” Sun said softly, lightly giggling as she sat up.

“I’ve had ruder things wake me up,” Tom replied. Waking up next to Sun was akin to finding himself in heaven. To him, seeing her sleepy face above him was the sweetest sight in the world. With another groan, he sat up as well. He took a moment to marvel at her as she got out of bed and moved to the open closet where she pulled out two robes. One was black and made out of a sort of gauzy fabric, on the back it had a winged scarab. The other one she pulled out was of the same design, but it was in the color of gold with the stitched image of Sekhmet on the back in between her shoulders. 

Sun slipped into her robe that she had made on impulse as well as the one she had handed to him. She had been seventeen and home alone for a solid week with access to a credit card. To her, it seemed like a fine time to make some clothes. “Unfortunately, I think I know who’s hanging on the doorbell.” With that said, she walked out of the room and down the two flights of stairs. Like she knew, Lyla was pressing the buzzer. 

“Sun, let me in!”

Sun sighed and unlocked the front door. Then she stepped into the entryway and unlocked the outer doors. The moment they flew open she said, “What took you so long?”

Lyla huffed indignantly, “I called, but you didn’t answer. What time did you go to bed?”

Sun opened her mouth to answer but stopped. “What time is it?” she asked instead.

“Noon,” Lyla said in a huff. “I spent the night with a man I picked up at Journey’s.” She was about to tear into Sun some more when she looked up the stairs to see the man from the lecture last week. “You found hotty professor guy? Is that why you didn’t come back with my coffee?”

“Yes, and yes…” Sun answered. Then looking over her shoulder she said to Tom, “This is Lyla Carnahan, my cousin.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED:


	2. Chapter 2

Lyla Carnahan was a party girl when she wasn’t traveling the world hunting for lost treasure. She loved to socialize with anyone if they seemed fun enough to her. It was nearly noon when she returned to the brownstone she shared with her favorite cousin, Sun. Halfway down the street she noticed a black, four door sedan with men inside, all garbed in red. The sight of them made her already pounding head ache more. She put on a drunken act and stumbled down the rest of the street, making a grand show of tripping up the stone steps. While she made it look like she could possibly throw up, she bent over and picked up a parcel box. Then she pushed the doorbell and kept pushing it.

“Let me in…!!!!” Lyla shouted, pressing the buzzer in time with her words. She switched to short buzzes and then one long one before going back to the short ones. This behavior wasn’t uncommon to their neighbors. Lyla stupidly forgot her keys when they left yesterday morning. Finally, through the glass, she saw the door open. She could get out of yesterday’s clothes and into a hot shower.

 

LIVING ROOM:

 

“Lyla,” Sun stressed her cousin’s name, “this is Tom Hawass.” She hoped that Lyla would break her streak of annoying nicknames and actually use his name.

“Oh,” Lyla said, nodding at the man, realizing she still carried the box, “this was on the front stoop for you.” Out of curiosity, she looked at the return address. “It’s from Ben.” 

Sun crossed her arms and scoffed. “Is it ticking?” The last time she had spoken to Benjamin, she had promised to cut his heart out and feed it to him. Of course, that was after she castrated him and boiled his balls to feed to her dogs. Sun was very colorful with her threats she leveled against her cousin.

“That’s not fair,” Lyla said, scowling. 

“Who’s Ben?” Tom asked as he stood next to Sun. Her good mood vanished the moment that name was spoken. 

“He’s Lyla’s two-timing, double dealing, traitorous brother,” Sun said sharply. “And that’s me being kind about his character,” she added looking at her cousin.

Lyla didn’t reply or try to defend her brother to Sun. The rift between the two was too great, it might never be mended. So, instead, she read the address from where the box was sent. “This was post marked from Cairo, a week ago, and it was sent from Sarah’s address.”

“What?! Sarah doesn’t have a place in Egypt,” Sun stated. The last time she had spoken to her parent’s – admittedly it was a while ago – they had talked about keeping Sarah out of Egypt. This, of course, was during one of her manic episodes, so Sun had cut the call short to let her parents deal with their eldest daughter.

“Apparently, she does now,” Lyla informed. “And something else you’re not going to like. I saw Paul at Journey’s trolling for a date. I caught him before he could get his latest ‘victim’ and got the low down on his estranged wife. So, this is straight from the lecherous horse’s mouth. Sarah got Auntie Leah to give her the apartment she had in Cairo.”

“Shit…” Sun sighed heavily. “With Paul here in New York, that means Sarah’s off her meds and no one is managing her. What about my spineless brother, Avery?” she asked Lyla. Sarah on her own was a recipe for disaster, and if she was on the loose in Egypt, that would be even worse.

Tom got up from the couch and went to Sun. Silently he asked, “Have I stepped into the middle of an ongoing argument?”

Sun looked up into his whiskey colored eyes and replied gently, “No, you’ve wandered into the middle of some O’Connell family crazy with my oldest sister, Sarah, as the main attraction.” Before he had a chance to ask anything more, she added, “She’s a paranoid schizophrenic with violent tendencies.” 

“Violent is a mild understatement,” Lyla snapped. “She tried to strangle you when you were eighteen.”

“Lyla!” Sun snapped. 

“Your own sister tried to kill you?” Tom asked, shock radiating throughout his body. Every fiber of hos being screamed for him to act, to do something to make sure she was never harmed again. 

“She was in the middle of a psychotic break,” Sun answered. “She was convinced I was her enemy.” That night had been the scariest night of her life. If her father had been just a few minutes later, she could have very well been dead.

“That doesn’t excuse the way she treated you when we were children,” Lyla snapped. She hated Sarah with the same intensity that Sarah hated Sun.

“And that was why I was homeschooled and traveled with Grandpa Alex,” Sun stated. That was just another thing Sarah hated her for. Grandpa Alex showered her with love and attention, his time, and trips all over the world. Sarah was made to feel as if she was left out of everything. From Sun’s point of view, that wasn’t true. Sarah had most of their parent’s time and attention, which now, thinking back on it, it was probably because they knew she was troubled.

Lyla had nothing smart to say to that. So, instead, she pried open the flap of the box to see what was inside. Inside were pictures of dig sites around Luxor, a map, and various notes about Seti the I and his use of false tombs. Lyla flipped back to the map, but the hieratic writing on it was difficult for her as her ancient Egyptian was rusty. 

Tom could see there was more to the story of Sun’s family, but he wasn’t going to ask until he and Sun were alone. “Should I get dressed and go?”

“No,” Sun said with a short shake of her head. There was still the matter of the Red Guard outside. All of it felt like a long-term plan finally being carried out and it had Sarah’s fingerprints all over it. “Even through all of this, I would hope you’d want to stay.”

“I do, and I can’t explain why,” Tom answered her. The thought of walking out that door twisted his guts up into knots. He brought his hand up, cupping the side of her neck while his thumb rubbed back and forth over her pulse. 

“You and hotty professor should see this,” Lyla pipped up. She pulled surveillance pictures out of the box. There at least twenty photos of Sun and Tom. Lyla could tell that they were from before the two had had locked eyes with each other in the classroom. 

Sun crossed the room, peering over her cousin’s shoulder and then took the top picture. “This was two weeks ago when we were out to dinner. Why would Ben send this to me?” she asked.

“Making amends, maybe?” Lyla suggested. 

“He’s got a long road for that one.” Sun crossed her arms, going quiet. She was trying to piece things together from the moment she and Tom met. After seeing him, it was the first time she noticed the Red Guard following her. She had a sickening feeling that Sarah was somehow involved with them now. When Tom reached for the photo’s in her hand, she gave them to him without saying anything.

Tom sifted through the pictures of him walking the streets of Paris two weeks ago. He had gone home to visit his mother. There were photos of him having coffee in a café while reading the morning paper, of him sitting in a park reading a book. There were even shots of him in his parents’ house. “Why are there pictures of me?” he asked feeling as if his privacy had been invaded on a very personal level. 

Sun placed her hand flat on his chest, catching his gaze. “I don’t know, but I plan to find out,” she stated heatedly. It was fine for her when Sarah targeted her with her crazy. Sun could handle it. She had been ever since she was a kid. But to draw and innocent man into her delusion… that was crossing a line in Sun’s book. She wasn’t going to let this stand. 

“You can’t stay in New York,” Lyla pointed out. While Sun and Tom were staring at each other she had taken the liberty and unfolded the map Ben had sent along. It made her wonder if he stole all this stuff from Sarah. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Her brother had even lower morals than she did. 

“Why not?” Tom asked.

“Sarah is drawing me into one of her delusions, and by extension you as well,” Sun answered. “So, to take back a modicum amount of power, we make our move when we’re good and ready. That means taking a step to the side and going somewhere out of her sphere of control. Don’t worry, I won’t let her hurt you.”

Tom smiled and asked, “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

“It’s the 21st century. Women get to be knights in shining armor now,” Sun joked.

“I’m calling Ben,” Lyla stated, her phone already in hand.

“No, you’re not,” Sun said turning on her cousin. “We can do this without him.”

“Can we?” Lyla asked. “If you want dirty, double-dealing, underhanded tricks, then we need my brother. He’s a sneaky son of a bitch, and he hates Sarah too.” 

Sun wanted to argue, but she didn’t have the luxury, not now that Sarah was drawing Tom into things. She would need every advantage she could get, and whether she liked it or not, Ben was an advantage. “Fine, tell him to bring my bag.” 

“You got it,” Lyla said, furiously typing away. The text would go straight to her brother’s encrypted cell phone.

Sun wrapped her robe around herself and dropped down to the suede sofa. He didn’t let her get too far away. Sitting down next to her, he took her hand in between both of his, motioning for her to rest her head on his shoulder. She did and sighed gratefully. Touching him somehow calmed her completely. “Feel like following me down the rabbit hole a little while longer?”

Tom placed a gentle kiss to the top of her head and replied, “I would follow you to the Underworld and back, I think.” 

“How about to Paris?” Sun asked in a gentle tone. “I have a house barge docked on the river near Notre Dame.” It would give her time to do research of her own. Sarah had always cast herself in the role of Nefertiri. Sun was never certain to which role her sister had consigned her to that brought with it so much hate. She needed time to figure this out before she confronted Sarah.

“Perfect,” Tom replied, giving her another light kiss. 

“Now we have that taken care of, what about our friends outside?” Lyla asked, jerking her thumb towards the window. Sun and her man looked at her. “We could call the police, claim their casing our neighbors house while they are away on vacation.” She knew how to cause a good distraction when it was called for. Pulling out her phone, she saw she had a new message and it was from Ben. In it, he said he was in London picking up a few things from the family manor house. At one time, Lyla, Ben, Sun, Avery, and Sarah had lived under the same roof with their parents and Alex O’Connell. 

“You deal with them,” Sun said, getting up, “and we’ll get dressed while I deal with the flight details…”

“I need a flight to London. Just heard from Ben, and he’s at the house. He said he would wait for me to get there.” Lyla made sure to arrange for cars to take them to the airport. One for her and then one for them so Sun could take her man wherever he needed to go to get whatever stuff he had. 

“While you’re at the house, get the journals from my room; the ones Grandpa Alex left me,” Sun said, trying to think if there was anything else she needed. If she thought of anything else, she could always text Lyla later. 

“Okay, I’ll make a list,” Lyla replied half to herself and half to Sun. They were so many things to take care of before they left the house. First, she had to get rid of the Red Guard watching them. 

Sun nodded, but her cousin was already engrossed in spinning her tale for the cops. It was a thing of beauty to witness Lyla blowing something way out of proportion. Instead of standing around watching, she took Tom’s hand, tugging him back towards the steps. They were silent the entire way up to the third floor. The only thing she focused on was the warm weight of his hand in hers and the way his fingers were laced with hers. 

When she shut the bedroom door, Tom asked, “Why do you hate your cousin Ben so much?” He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, his heels braced on the frame. She took a moment to just stare at him. He could see she was debating what she should tell him and what she should keep to herself. So, he waited. 

Sun shook her head and decided to tell him the truth. “Ben betrayed me. We were working a salvage job off the coast of China. I was searching for a legendary shipwreck that contained the tomb of a lost Chinese empress, but what I found was something else. It was a cache of old weapon that were worth a lot of money. Before I got the chance to examine it, Ben sold the wreckage to Chinese gangsters, and I was taken captive for three months…” 

The next part was something Sun hadn’t even told Lyla. “Ben was getting ready to leave when he heard that two of the men were planning to execute both of us. So, my cousin double crossed them, and killed them first. Then he set me free.” All through her answer, she had closed the distance between them, putting herself between his parted knees with her hands on his shoulders. Being touched by him made it easier for her to talk about what happened. 

“He betrayed you and then saved you?” Tom asked. “Why would he do that?” Gently, his hand moved up and down her sides, comforting her. He was walking into a family mess and he knew it, but he was doing so with his eyes wide open. Sun was worth braving a family intent on going to war with each other. 

“Ben cares about money more than he cares about scruples or family loyalty,” Sun answered quickly. She was suspicious about his motives to help her, even if he did hate her older sister. There had to be some angle he was working that she didn’t see yet. 

Because she needed it, Tom stood up, his lips seeking hers. She needed something to ground her and he would let that be him, his touch, his kiss, and his body. Her arms draped over his shoulders and his fingers dug into her sides. The kiss was full of promised passion. It was so powerful that they broke apart gasping. “I don’t think we’ll get used to that.” 

Sun giggled lightly and responded, “Neither do I.” He had this way of knowing what she needed and what she had needed after talking about Ben was to feel him in tight against her. His lips touched her forehead while she closed her eyes, savoring this moment. They couldn’t stay like this for too much longer. There would be a narrow window for them to take advantage of, so they could get out of the country. 

“We should get dressed,” Tom said softly. It was as if he’d read her mind. They parted slowly, neither ready to lose the feel of the others skin. When their finger tips were the only part of them touching, they shared another small smile, and then broke the connection of their skin. He found his clothes from the previous day where he’d left them. Picking them up, he went into the bathroom to change. All the while he was thinking about Sun. 

Sun changed quickly; black leggings, knee high black boots, and a white button up shirt. She finger combed her fall of long black hair back into a pony tail before she grabbed her large duffle back. In it, she threw in pants, boots, bra’s, underwear, and various pairs of jeans. Pulling the zipper closed, she tossed the bag out letting it land on the floor. A manly yelp of surprise immediately followed the thud of her duffle. Poking her head out of the closet, she saw Tom giving the evil eye to the thing that had nearly assaulted him. “Sorry,” she said with a small shrug. 

“I’m fine,” Tom replied and then buttoned the last button of his shirt. He bent over to pick up her bag as it was covering his shoes. Slipping into the comfortable loafers, he settled the strap of her suitcase on his shoulder and then headed out of the room. He’d have to call Andrew and let him know that he had to leave suddenly. On the stairs, headed down, Tom encountered Lyla. She was looking quite pleased with herself. “The cops believed you, I take it,” he said. 

“I can be convincing when I need to be,” Lyla replied with a shrug, a wink, and a smile. “Oh, our cars will be here in about an hour and a half. So, go stand by the window and enjoy the show.” With that, she jogged the rest of the way up to her room. She needed a shower, badly. 

Down in the living room, Tom did as Lyla suggested. He went to the window, peering down at the street just in time to see two cop cruisers pull up from opposite directions to box in a sedan. The driver put his hands out the window to show he had no weapons and one patrolman approached. 

“Jesse, tell me you have two seats available on tonight’s red eye flight to Paris.”

Tom turned from the drama unfolding outside the window to look at Sun walking down the steps, all long legged grace and poise. It was as if he could almost see her as someone else; a painted goddess in black lines and gold paint, adorned in jewelry and gold chains. This unpainted version before him was better. He walked towards her, pulled by some metaphysical tether between them. 

Sun forced herself not to be distracted by Tom in front of her, looking at her as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world to him. She had to concentrate on Jesse on the other end of her call. Her contact at the airport was currently checking all available flights to Paris, not just the red eye. She would like to take the quickest flight possible, but if she had to, she would take a normal plane. Unfortunately, she was losing the battle. She was falling into his eyes and losing all sense of time. 

“Sun, are you listening to me? Hello? Hello? If you can hear this, I have you and your traveling companion booked on the evening flight to Paris. Lyla has a seat in first class for a flight to London leaving at three. Come to the desk, your tickets will be waiting.” 

The call ended.

Sun shoved her phone into her back pocket while she continued to hold Tom’s gaze. There was no need to advert her eyes, to pretend she wasn’t staring at him. He held out his hand to her and she didn’t hesitate to go to him. The moment her palm touched his, she shuddered. The sensations that flew through her felt too good, she never wanted it to stop. This was worth fighting for. He was worth going to war with her sister. 

 

PARIS:

 

Tom climbed out of the taxi that had brought them from the airport to a deserted spot along the Seine. It was nearly eight in the morning, foggy, and with few people jogging. The air around them felt like it could burst open any minute and flood the city with rain. He moved to the trunk of the cab, pushing the lid up to retrieve their luggage; Sun’s leather duffle, his briefcase, and suitcase. He took a deep breath, breathing in the fine Parisian air reaffirming that he was home. He spent half his life in this city, cultivating his love of the ancient world. Part of him felt sorrow, however, to be back here with trouble nipping at his heels. 

Sun paid the driver and tipped him extra to forget that he’d ever seen them in the backseat of his car. She got out to see Tom laden down with their luggage. Immediately, she reached for the strap of her bag, but he took a step back, giving her a wink. So, he wanted to be chivalrous. Sun smiled and led the way to where her barge was docked. Camille was already on deck, securing the lines, making the knots tight. When she wasn’t staying in Paris, she let Camille use her barge free of rent, so she had somewhere to stay while she was at University. Luckily, the girl was headed home Lyon for Spring break, and was finished packing. “Bonjour, Camille!” Sun called out, waving.

“Bonjour, Madam Sun!” Camille shouted her greeting, waving in return. “I did not think to see you until this afternoon,” she said as she checked the last knot. It was strong and would weather the potential storm that was supposed to hit.

“We took an earlier flight,” Sun said with a slight shrug and a soft smile. 

“Oh, I see,” Camille giggled, winking at her generously understanding landlord. 

“You keep those dirty thoughts to yourself, missy,” Sun said in a joking manner. Camille batted her eyelashes and appeared contrite – for the moment. She just shook her head, letting her amusement show. “At least you’ll be home in time for lunch. I’m sure mother will be thrilled.”

“If she’s not in the middle of a disagreement with husband number three,” Camille grumbled. 

“You call me if you need to come back to Paris. I’ll put you up in a nice flat, close to campus should you want to study while on break,” Sun offered, stepping over the rope line and on to the deck of her barge.

“You don’t have to do that,” Camille said, waving off Sun’s offer. “I’ll deal. If things get too out of hand, I will take the skillet to him.” She laughed, but she was serious at the same time. Camille stepped on to the stone bank and then hurried off.

“She’s a strange one,” Tom commented lightly, handing Sun her duffle. She took it, tossing it over by the skylight and then held out her hands for his bags as well. He didn’t think twice about it. With his hands free, he made his way carefully on to the deck of the barge. The entire ride from the airport was made in silence. He could feel that Sun had come to a few conclusions on the flight but was reluctant to share them given the crowded plane. 

Sun picked up her bag and motioned for him to follow. Inside, she moved down into the living area towards the bow, dropping her duffle by the small dining table. She had had seven hours to think about the situation she found herself in. While in flight from New York to Paris, she started to recall the stories Grandpa Alex had told her about High Priest Imhotep and his lover Anck-Su-Namun. When he told her about them, he told her about their early life, about meeting, and falling in love. After her grandpa died, some of the things he willed to her were his journals, specifically the ones about the two lovers. Inside the first volume was a cryptic note that he left her. “Theirs is a story told through the eyes of a poisoned Princess,” Sun spoke the words she knew by heart. 

“What?” Tom asked.

Sun looked at him and said, “I might know who my sister believes us to be. It didn’t make sense until I had time to think about it. She thinks she’s Nefertiri, and the villains in that tale were Imhotep and his lover, Anck-Su-Namun….”

Tom nodded. “I know this story…” he said softly. It didn’t end too well for them after murdering the Pharaoh. Thinking about them made him feel sad, and that never made sense to him, at least not until this moment. He understood his kinship to Imhotep and the longing to love the one woman he knew he belonged with.

“My grandpa used to tell me tales about them, but he never made them out to be monsters,” Sun said, dropping down to the couch with a sigh. “The stories he told me were happy ones. It was as if he wanted me to have a positive association with them. It was almost as if he knew something about me…”

To keep her from falling into sadness, Tom asked, “Will you tell me the stories he told you?” He came over and sat next to her, where he took a decorative pillow and placed it over his lap. Gently, he patted it, hoping she was stretch out and rest. It had been a long flight and he suspected she hadn’t slept at all. 

Sun moaned tiredly, shifting to curl on her side with her head resting on the pillow in his lap. Immediately, his hand touched her head, stroking her hair in a soothing way. So, she started the story the way her grandpa had. “Imhotep had never before laid eyes upon a woman such as her. The moment their eyes touched, they knew they were destined to be together. Their souls called out to be united as one…”

Tom listened to her speak, her voice drifting off like a memory, and his eyes were closing. Her words coalesced in his mind, forming a movie that he felt he’d already lived once before. He could see her, gleaming in gold paint with dead eyes. Then they caught sight of each other, and a spark ignited inside them. She had been a gift to the Pharaoh, given with the express purpose of being used in whatever way the God-King saw fit. He remembered feeling sickened by it. A beautiful woman should never be made a plaything.

“Time and circumstances kept them apart. She, mistress to the Pharaoh. He, the High Priest. Then a time came where they could no longer deny what was growing between them. They found moments to be together; stolen, cherished seconds. A brush of the hand here, a long lingering glance there, or a secret kiss in the dead of night while the rest of the world slept.” 

Tom drifted further into the sea of memories, falling completely into a dark scene. He could feel the lick of heat against his skin as he concealed himself in the shadows, waiting. Then he heard the clink of thin gold chains and knew it was her. Stepping out into the light, he let her see him, and the smile that curved her lips traveled all the way up to her eyes. Tonight, she wore a simple white cotton wrap around her hips and chest. Seti was away and there was no need for her to be painted. Immediately, he went to her, covering the distance between them quickly, and greeting her in the way that made them feel loved. And then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in against his body, so that his lips could take hers. 

“All too soon, their love grew too great. Stolen touches, lingering glances, and secret meetings were no longer enough. They needed more. They would risk all just to be in love, to be free and happy….” 

Tom’s memories changed. It was night, but this time she was painted and readied for Pharaoh. His heart sank, but still he went to her. Placing his hand upon her shoulder, he smudged her freshly painted black lines. Whether he did it in purpose, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed the taste of her on his tongue, the feel of her lips branded upon his own. Then Seti returned. He didn’t make the choice to kill the Pharaoh even though he drew the golden sword he carried. The jarring motion of driving the blade through the King made his eyes pop open and his chest heave with the effort to breathe normally.

Sun sat up, tossed the pillow aside, and straddled his lap with her hands cupping his face, trying to get his eyes to lock with hers. “You’re here with me. You’re right here,” she said over and over again. Leaning in, she pressed her forehead to his, trying to get him to breath with her, to slow down, and feel that she was with him. While she had been speaking, her mind had wandered down a path of lost memories. She had felt the heat of the sun, the hard stone of the palace floor beneath her feet, and the suffocating way the paint choked her skin. 

“I’ve never felt anything like this before, the power of those memories…” Tom breathed in through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. The wave of memory crashed through him with such force that he hadn’t been prepared for it. He could remember days spent in idle conversation, other days spent doing nothing but staring at each other from across a courtyard. Then there were days spent longing for a glimpse of one another. It was all coursing through him, churning up feelings for the woman holding him, for the love he lost three thousand years ago. “We never set out to kill him…” 

“No, we didn’t,” Sun replied, emotion choking her voice. “We only wanted to be free.” Even as she caressed his face, she could feel the weight of the dagger in her hand, her fingers curling around it, and the impact of her driving it into Pharaoh’s back. “We’re not them,” she said quickly, heatedly. She wanted him to believe it, needed him to believe it, because then she could as well. It was hard not to look at him and see the face of the man from three thousand years ago. And she was falling in love with him all over again. 

Tom sat up, wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her, letting her body anchor him in the present while his mind was getting lost in the past. He tried to cling to anything that would stop the flood of memories for a while. He wasn’t ready for them and he could tell, neither was she. “Distract me with something,” Tom pleaded, but even as he begged, his mind latched on to what she had said before beginning her story. “Theirs is a story told through the eyes of a poisoned Princess,” he repeated those words back to her. “What does that mean?”

Sun was momentarily taken aback. She hadn’t been prepared for him to switch gears like that and it took her a minute to catch up. “Uhh… I… don’t know…” she stammered. Taking a moment, she took a calming breath and closed her eyes. This stream of memories had stripped her of her steel-like resolve. She had faced harder things than remembering a past life. But that like was determined to bring her to her knees, bend her to its will, and make her endure the pain. Sun would fight tooth and nail, refusing to be broken by the past. She wouldn’t make the same mistakes Anck-Su-Namun made. 

“Nefertiri didn’t die from poisoning,” Tom stated. “Your grandfather must have meant it in another context. But what?”

“Poisoned could refer to her hatred for them. They did kill her father,” Sun reminded him. She would do anything she could to separate who they were now from the two who were forced into a life of secrecy and a love that had no room to grow in the light of day.

“Through her eyes…” Tom muttered to himself a few times. “Her eyes… She bore witness to the love they had for each other behind her father’s back.”

Sun was following his train of thought. “So, by that logic, ‘poisoned’ could mean jealous. She was jealous of them. But why? Nefertiri was a Princess. She wanted for nothing, including her father’s time and his love.” Sun caressed his cheeks with her thumbs, idly, as if she’d done it a million times. Then it occurred to her. “She was jealous of us, of the love we had.”

“I think so,” Tom said in agreement. Their assumption made him wade back into the pool of memories that had calmed. He was taking a risk, but the answer was in their memories, he knew it. “It was the triumph parade. Seti had returned victorious is Kadesh, taking the city from the Hittites….”

“Nefertiri was standing at the top of the palace steps, waiting to greet her father upon his return. Nobles and commoners alike lined the streets, celebrating the great victory. It was the first time you and I were standing next to each other in public…” Sun trailed off, feeling a chill run up and down her spine. 

“The wind had risen up, billowing the robes I wore, hiding the fact that I had taken your hand. We were lamenting our time together had come to an end after months of peace while he was gone,” Tom spoke, taking her hand as he remembered doing that day, three thousand years ago. He didn’t know what had possessed him to look at the Princess, but when he did, he saw Nefertiri’s eyes taking in the sight of their joined hands. The Princess looked at him then, and they stared at each other for long minutes. Fanfare finally diverted their attention away from each other and back to the procession drawing closer to the palace. She knew and that meant it was only a matter of time before she told her father. 

“You held my hand so tightly, I thought you might break all my bones,” Sun said in a rush, this time her grip tightening on him. She was fighting back tears of despair that she shouldn’t be feeling. There was no one to object to them being together. Her left arm draped across the back of his shoulders as her lips took his in a heated kiss that grounded her soul in the present. It helped her to know that she was Sun O’Connell.

Tom slid to the edge of the couch. One hand still holding hers and his other arm wrapped across her back. He stood up, her legs locked around him as he carried her to the raised platform bed behind them. Gently, he knelt on the mattress, letting her fall back against the golden satin of the sheets. Tom braced his hands on either side of her waist, holding himself above her, getting ready to kiss her again, when her hand on his chest stopped him. “What?” he asked in a gasp.

Sun answered him honestly, “I don’t want sex… yet.” She knew the union of their bodies would be intoxicating, but she wanted to take the time to just be with him. When they made love to each other, she wanted it to be in Egypt, in the sight of the gods who had denied them in their first life. She wanted them to see that they were free. That they were in love. 

“Then what should I do?” Tom asked lightly. 

“Touch me,” Sun replied, bringing her hands up to rest in on shoulders.

Tom grinned a wicked grin. He rose up to his knees, so that his hands could busy themselves with the buttons of her shirt. Under his hands, he could feel the muscles of her stomach quivering. Parting the fabric, exposing her abdomen, he leaned down and placed a light, lingering kiss to her skin. He stayed there longer than he knew he should have, but part of him remembered the angry wound that had stolen her life. Silently, he prayed never to witness her death… again. 

Sun felt his lips moving, she felt the words he spoke against her body. He was offering up a prayer to the great god, Osiris. She cupped his face and promised, “Hey, we won’t make their mistakes.” In her heart she wanted to believe what she was saying. Her mind was a different matter. She was being forced into a confrontation that might just claim a life as recompence for past wrongs. To chase away that specter looming over them, she pulled him up until she could kiss him, breathing new life into his body, and warmth into his heart. 

 

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT:

 

Tom woke in bed, alone. The flight had wiped them out as had the flood of memories that coursed through them. He was curled on his side, the sheets down around his hips, and a large square pillow was taking the place where Sun had been. In the low light, he saw her, she was pacing and talking on her cell phone. He propped himself up on his side and watched her in case she needed him. From her body language he was able to see that she was agitated by the person on the other side of the call. When she turned to pace back, her eyes caught his and he nodded to let her know that he was here should she need him.

“I understand,” Sun said and then disconnected the call. She dropped her phone on to the table by his briefcase before heading for the door; she needed air. Up on deck, she breathed in the chilly night air, trying to fill her lungs with as much as she could in the hopes it would calm her rising temper. She went over to the wheel house and slammed her fist into the unrelenting wood. Hurting herself wouldn’t help the situation, so she moved towards the bow and stared at Notre Dame. And then warmth surrounded her, as well as Tom’s strong arms. He cocooned them within a blanket.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Tom asked, holding her shivering form against his body. She turned in his arms, tucking her head under his chin, and remained silent. He understood she was processing whatever news she was given. So, he held her and waited until she was ready.

“It was my father on the phone,” Sun muttered as she turned her face, resting her cheek on his bare chest. “He wanted to tell me that Sarah had vanished and that I should take extra precautions until he’s tracked her down. I didn’t tell him about the package Ben sent me with the photos.”

“Why not?” Tom asked. “Certainly your father can help you.”

“He’s under enough stress as it is,” Sun replied. Her father, Richard, gave up most of his free time to keep track of his eldest daughter. It put strain on the rest of the family. Except for Avery. The only son of Laura and Richard O’Connell spent his time winding his sister up, feeding her delusions that Sun was their enemy. The sad part of it was, Sun didn’t hate Sarah or Avery. Most days, she pitied them.

“And that means we only have your cousins, Lyla and Ben, to rely on,” Tom commented. Even with the odds stacked against them, he could feel that they were going to prevail. They stood together and there was nothing they couldn’t do.

TO BE CONTINUED....


	3. Chapter 3

**THE NEXT MORNING:**  
  
  
  
“Ben, I swear to the gods, if you pull any kind of crap, I will let Sun shoot you,” Lyla warned, pointing her finger in her brother’s face. Where she was slender, with an average height, pale skin, and dark chocolate hair and dark eyes, her brother was tall, dark skinned, dark eyes and hair. He also had a penchant for ‘gold fever’ like their great-grandpa Jonathon. It tended to make him do stupid things.   
  
“What ever could you mean, dear sister?” Benjamin Carnahan was still in the dog house, having been chucked in there by his cousin Sun O’Connell. He couldn’t understand why she hadn’t let the matter go. She got her life and he got paid while all the gangsters that wanted her dead, died themselves. It was a win/win. Why couldn’t she see it from his point of view?  
  
“You know what,” Lyla seethed. She moved down the wide stone steps that led to the river slip where Sun had her barge docked. If Lyla didn’t have the pesky fear of drowning after seeing the movie TITANIC, then she would have thought living on the river, near the beautiful Notre Dame would be the picture of heaven. Warily, she stepped onto the deck and prayed nothing dramatic happened.   
  
Ben hefted the strap of Sun’s bag on his shoulder and tucked the box he had for her under his arm. Then, he was following his sister to the door. It was strange to be on a barge docked near the famed cathedral. He though ‘strange’ because Sun was the least religious of anyone in their family. Why would she wanted to live near such a symbol?

  
Lyla knocked on the oval hatch door. Then she knocked again and groaned. “Not this again…” So, she pulled out her phone and fired off a series of texts. “She better not be in bed…”   
  
“Huh?” Ben arched his right eyebrow.  
  
“Nothing…” Lyla muttered as she continued to text. Finally, Sun answered. The message was short: Door open. Lyla calmly put her phone away and turned the handle. Her brother was about to make one of his snide comments, but she cut him off by saying, “Shut up.”   
  
Down in the living area, Sun sat at the table with breakfast between her and Tom. They had been trying to share a meal when her phone kept going off with text after text from Lyla. As soon as she heard the door open, she called out, “You couldn’t have tried to door first before blowing up my phone!”  
  
“I did knock a couple of times.” Lyla made a grand show of dropping her bag and then said, “I thought you might be dead asleep with hotty professor guy.” She knew his name, but knowing names only led to attachments. Lyla wanted to wait and see if Tom Hawass was strong enough to stay with her cousin and weather the storm that was Sarah O’Connell’s rage.   
  
Under the table, Sun stretched out her right foot, lightly stepping on Tom’s, silently telling him not to take Lyla seriously. She glanced at Ben and let him see the displeasure on her face. He didn’t look fazed one bit. Slung over one shoulder was her bag. Getting up, she went to take it from him, but he took a step back. “Ben don’t screw around,” she warned him.  
  
“I’m not, but you need this first. It’s from an Estate Lawyer,” Ben said, handing the box to her. It was hand delivered by a courier not even an hour after Lyla returned to Carnahan Manor. After handing the box over, he set Sun’s bag on coffee table.  
  
Sun accepted the parcel, warily. Her face fell when she saw who it was from. “Grandpa Alex…” she whispered his name reverently. Without hesitation, she ripped open the box and looked inside. It was an odd black octagon with hieroglyphs on it.   
  
Tom stood by Sun’s side, peering into the box. “May I?” he asked. She nodded handing over the box. Carefully picking up the relic, he studied the markings on it, noting the images of Anubis and Amun-Ra. His fingers moved before his brain could understand what was happening. With a twist, the top opened to reveal a folded piece of paper inside. Tom didn’t touch it. He handed it back to her, so she could make the choice of what to do with it.   
  
With a heavy heart, Sun pulled free the folded paper to read what was written on it. She half expected it to be papyrus, but instead it was normal stationary. Unfolding it, she read her grandfather’s words out loud:

 

_“My dearest granddaughter, if this package falls into your hands, then the stories I told to you as a child have failed to remain just that. Stories. It also means that your sister, Sarah, has taken to a dark path in life, choosing to resurrect wounds that should have remained buried. By now she has discovered a map to one of the false tombs belonging to Seti that was designed by Imhotep. It holds secrets that should remain lost to time, but that is not an option anymore. If fate has been kinder to you this time around, then you have happened upon your Imhotep. The two of you have already started a journey that will unite you and give you the peace you’ve sought not just in this life, but in others. I know the strength you have in you and I know you will do whatever you have to do and with a clear conscience. Know that I love you, my dear Sun.”_

 

Tom rested his hand on her right shoulder, his fingers squeezing gently in an effort to comfort her. He couldn’t imagine how hard this was for her to read a letter that her grandfather had hoped would never fall into her hands. “Do you need to take a minute?” he asked, placing his lips close to her ear so only she heard him. She shook her head, not trusting her voice just yet. 

Sun digested her grandfather’s words, choosing to leave the emotions out of it for the moment. Later, when she was lone with Tom, she could feel whatever it was she needed to feel, and she would be safe in his arms to do so. Right now, she needed to focus. “The map you sent,” she said to Ben, “did you look at it?” 

“Yeah, what I mailed to you was a copy. It was all I found at Sarah’s place,” Ben replied, making the choice to be helpful rather than combative. He didn’t need to be psychic to know reading that note had twisted Sun up into knots. He wasn’t going to be a complete asshole in this moment.

“Where is it?” Sun asked. She couldn’t remember if they brought it with them.

“I’ve got it,” Tom said softly, leaving her side to go to his briefcase.  He puled out the map contained within a hard-plastic cover. After landing in Paris yesterday, he had wanted to take time to examine it, but one thing led to another and they were swept up in sea of memories that caught them off guard, leaving them exhausted and emotionally worn out.  At his side he didn’t find Sun, it was Ben. Tom actually glared at the man.

Ben was unfazed by the hostility in the other man’s gaze. Undoubtedly, Sun had shared with him their adventure in China, and how it had ended up. He shrugged, taking the map from him. For a minute, he thought the other man might punch him. “When I found it, I noticed some familiar handwriting on it,” Ben spoke, directing his attention to Sun as he handed the map over to her. “One set belonged to Sarah, another to Uncle Richard, and the third belongs to your grandfather.”

Sun took the map but didn’t look at it until Tom was standing next to her again. This story wasn’t just about her, it concerned him as well. Whatever they did, or decided, they had to do it together. However, Tom was distracted by Ben’s presence, so she touched his arm, getting him to look at her, and only her. “Does this seem familiar to you?” When she looked at it, it was just a piece of paper to her, but perhaps to him….

Tom shifted his gaze away from the dangerous cousin and onto the paper. At first, nothing, no reaction, but the longer he looked at it, he felt as if he’d seen it before. It was almost as if he’d drawn it himself. “It does,” he answered Sun softly. As he traced the lines and symbols with the tip of his finger, he could recall committing these details to a papyrus scroll. There was something about it that he couldn’t quite remember. “This is where she’s leading us?” Tom asked, though, he could already guess the answer to that. 

“It’s a three-day journey by camel. One day to the oasis and another day to the tomb with a day of rest in between,” Sun stated. She could remember the journey Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had taken to inspect the burial chamber. Seti had been tied up with matters of state and told his future wife to go in his stead. Imhotep had been tasked with designing the false tomb to trick would-be thieves into thinking the dead Pharaoh was laid to rest there. Then, abruptly, the recollection stopped. She didn’t know what happened after they set off on their trip. The oasis had another piece of their puzzle, Sun knew that for sure.

“Go by jeep, it’s only a half day and maybe half a tank of gas,” Ben said looking at the map over Sun’s shoulder.

“No,” Sun shot back with a sharp shake of her head. “The moment we land in Egypt, we have to make it seem like we’re playing Sarah’s game. It’s the only way to gain the upper hand.”

“You really want to play her game?” Ben asked skeptically. Sun usually refused to engage with her sister. She would take off to some secluded location and wait it out. This was almost out of character for his cousin.

“I don’t want to, no,” Sun replied sharply. It wasn’t just her life on the line. If it was, then she wouldn’t think twice about facing off against her sister, rushing in before she was prepared. She had Tom to think about and they had to find a way to make these memories work for them and not be a hinderance. For that, she needed the time the journey across the desert. There was something she needed to remember, but she couldn’t do that until they were retracing steps they had already taken. “I won’t ask you to go with me,” she whispered, giving him an out should he need it. She wanted him to know he had other options. 

“I won’t let you go without me,” Tom replied strongly. He had to know what was at the end of this journey and if it meant that Sun was going to be his present and potentially his future. There was a truth waiting for them in the desert and he had to see it through to the end. Tom rested his hands on her sides, pulling her close, resting his forehead to hers. Together the breathed in a quivering breath. Lightly, he said, “Okay.” Though, he wasn’t sure why.

Lyla stood next to her brother waiting for Sun and Tom to finish being all touchy-feely. The only time she had ever seen anyone in their family like that had been pictures of Rick and Evy O’Connell. They had been in love every single day of their lives and it showed in every photo of them. Sun and Tom had the same kind of love. The kind that would endure through the ages. She tried not to feel a sting of envy at what Sun had found. After all, she knew her cousin deserved every ounce of happiness that she could get.

Ben spoke softly to his sister, “I’ll make plans for the four of us to fly out tonight. I know of a decommissioned airfield just outside Luxor. From there we can go to the temple and…” 

“‘We’? What we? We’re not going with them,” Lyla stated. Taking Ben’s phone, she pulled up the picture of the map he’d taken. “We’ll come at it from another direction. Sun needs time with him, and we’ll give that to her.”

“And who will watch their backs if Sarah has something lying in wait for them? Sun doesn’t seem like she’s totally one hundred percent present in the moment,” Benn hissed. Normally, she had every angle of a plan on lock down, everyone knew what they were doing and when they were to be doing it. At this moment, Sun was willing to step onto a game board to play by rules set down by someone else. 

“I think she’ll do whatever she has to just to protect what she has growing with him,” Lyla responded quietly. She leveled her gaze with her brother to make sure he understood the full weight of her woods. If threatened by anyone, Sun would bring her wrath down upon those that tried to tear her away from Tom.

“I’ll get one of my guys to make the plane ready for tonight,” Ben said, adding volume for the other two who seemed to be ignoring them. He took his phone from his sister and started to make those plans when he felt the icy stare of death on him. Looking around for the source, he saw Sun. “What?”

“Do you honestly think I’ll trust one of your people to get us to Egypt?” Sun asked taking a hostile stance to show Ben she didn’t trust. Now that Tom was in the mix, she had even less incentive to rely on Ben.

“Seeing as the pilot I plan to use is Gavin, yeah, I would think you might want to show a little faith,” Ben snapped his response.

“Old boyfriend I take it?” Tom asked, glad for the distraction. Any longer and he might start to fall into the black pool of memories that had started to awaken when he looked at the map.

“Not exactly,” Sun said in a roundabout way. “He wanted to be, but I didn’t see him like that.” Gavin had taken her out on one date and that one that. She’d had gone so far as to give him a good night kiss, but she never felt the spark with him that she had with Tom. 

“Do you trust Gavin?” Tom inquired. 

“Oddly enough, yeah, I do. He doesn’t want to hurt me,” Sun answered. Granted, it had been three years since the last time they were in close proximity to each other. She just hoped that what she said was still true. 

“Okay, I have a few arrangements to make,” Ben announced, moving towards the hatch. 

Sun followed after him. When the door closed, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket, hauling him close to her. “If you betray me this time, Lyla won’t be able to save your worthless ass. Know that I will make you suffer in ways you’ve near dreamed of, in ways only known to the ancients.” She wasn’t concerned about the harm that could befall her. She was worried about Tom.

Ben would be a fool not to be a little afraid of his cousin. “As hard as it is for you to believe, but I have learned my lesson where it comes to double crossing family and I know you are fully capable of enforcing your threat. “

“Good,” Sun snarled, shoving him away. She had to make him fully understand the consequences should he chose to sell her out – again. There would be no quarter given to him this time.

“Everything all right out here?” Tom asked. He saw the cousins share a heated exchange but kept his mouth shut until the tense moment had passed. 

“Everything’s fine,” Sun replied carefully. Ben shrugged and left her barge. She went to Tom and said, “I was making sure he knew…”

“Not to betray you?” Tom asked knowingly.

“Not to betray _us_ ,” Sun corrected him. She brought her hands up to his face and said, “I won’t lose you because of his lust for gold. You mean more to me than that.” He was the only man she could say that about. As important as she thought it was to learn about who they were in the past, she wasn’t going to let that define how she saw him in the present. Sun could already feel the weight of a timeless love settling in her heart making it beat faster. 

“I won’t lose you either,” Tom replied. There were times when destiny was a hard thing to ignore, and this was one of them. When the time came, he would fight her just as hard as she was going to fight for him. That was what true partners did. Sun said they weren’t going to repeat past mistakes. He just hoped she was right. Their past could only guide them for so long, it was up to them to make different choices.

 

 

**MID-AFTERNOON:**

 

 

Sun resisted for as long as she could, but she had to clean her weapons. Undoing the straps, she flipped open the bag Ben had brought her – a replica of the one her great-grandpa had.  She looked up in time to see the look of surprise cross Tom’s face. “It’s just a precaution,” she said, removing one of the .45’s. Like she had many times before, she dismantled the gun and checked each piece.

“Why would your sister be leading us to a false tomb? Everyone knows that Seti was buried in the Valley of the Kings.” Tom sat on the couch, watching her movements. The map was a shock by itself, revealing a tomb left untouched by human hands. The only thing he could think of was that a horrible sandstorm must have covered the tomb, protecting it for all time. 

“There’s something there she wants us to see,” Sun answered as she reassembled her first .45. Putting it back in place, she let her hand hover over the second one, but she didn’t pick it up. Then she asked, “Where did you put the puzzle box?” 

“Uh…” Tom shifted in his seat, shoving his hand into his right jeans pocket. He didn’t remember closing it or slipping it into his pocket. He had this sense that one of them should have the box with them at all times. Handing it over, he watched her open it and examine each interlocking piece. 

Sun ran the tip of her finger over every tongue and groove, every tooth. This object didn’t remind her of a box per se, more like it was a key. But a key to what? She was trying to remember, but there was this giant black spot keeping her from recalling anything specific. It could only mean that her memories, and Tom’s, wouldn’t be unlocked until they were retracing steps they’d already taken three thousand years ago. 

Tom reached out and took her hand. In her eyes, he saw frustration, and it was a feeling he knew all too well. She was struggling to recall something just as he was, and it had something to do with the box in her hand. “We could just run and not give your sister the satisfaction of playing her game,” he suggested. One of them had to. 

“If it were only that simple,” Sun replied sadly. “I would run to the ends of the Earth with you, but Sarah would force the issue and catch us unaware.” When they set foot in Egypt tomorrow, they were stepping onto the stage Sarah had set. This confrontation had to happen so that it could be put to rest for once and for all. 

“Do you get the feeling that we should have done that in our first life?” Tom asked with a humorless chuckle coloring his words. He felt as if they’d had this conversation before, but it had gone entirely different. Fear made them stay, made them suffer without one another.  Even now, when he wasn’t standing next to her, he felt starved for her warmth, for her smile, for the sound of her voice. She was the one woman he craved more than anything and he was finally understanding why his life felt half lived. She was his soul mate. 

“If only we had been that brave,” Sun said softly. There were other cities they could have gone to, other Kingdoms where they could have lost themselves and have been free from Seti’s grip. Punt. Nubia. Further East. They should have just fled in the dead of night and never looked back.  If Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep had fled, how different would their lives be now? Would she even have met Tom? Would she even exist at all? Maybe the choices her past self made were the only ones she could make that would lead Sun to this moment, to give her the chance to live the life that Anck-Su-Namun never could. 

Tom watched Sun’s face morph from slightly sad to completely blank. She kept turning the box over and over in her hand, her fingers tracing the symbols carved into the dark stone. This was how she appeared when she was thinking. She looked as if she were mentally picturing a map, planning her battle strategy, what moves to make, and when to make them. He sat back, taking a few moments to enjoy the sight of her like this. It was so new and comfortably familiar at the same time. He couldn’t help the way his heart swelled with love as he looked at her. It was love, he knew this now. There was no if or when. He was in love with her now; deeply and completely. 

Sun saw Tom’s face change from guarded to happy, the smile full of love and light. It made her heart skip a beat. “What?” she asked. His smiled widened as he shook his head. Her mind took her back to a moment in time where he was happy. He was lounging on his side, his fingers interlocked over his abdomen while he smiled at her. The bright sun was shining above them, enveloping them in its warmth, giving their love the light it needed to grow. She allowed her eyes to track down his body, the bronze of his skin, the black linen wrapped around his hips, and the trappings of his rank; High Priest. Then, she was back in the present and his expression never changed. 

“I’d rather not say… yet,” Tom answered her, his tone as like a feather caught on the current of a breeze.  She needed to focus on outwitting her sister. The last thing she needed was his proclaiming his love her – three thousand years in the making as it may be. “Tell me what you were thinking about.” 

“You,” Sun said without hesitation. Then she picked up the map, pointing out the oasis to him. “I feel that when we get here, we’ll be given some revelation that has been lost to time. A secret buried so deep that…”

“It’ll shake the very foundation of our past,” Tom finished for her. He held out his hand to her, needing to hold her in his arms. She moved the chair, right in against his side with her arms going around his neck. He embraced her tightly, trying to chase away the sudden coldness settling in their bones with the warmth of his body. “Nefertiri may have seen us as the demons in her tale, but Seti was the devil in ours,” he said strongly, his voice on the edge of breaking for some yet as unknown reason. There was this unspoken shadow of sorrow looming over them now and he didn’t understand why. 

“Are we even ready to learn why?” Sun asked, pulling back slightly so she could look into his eyes. She sat Tom’s resolve to know the truth mixed with Imhotep’s desire to keep the secret forever contained. Because she could think of nothing else in that moment, she kissed him. She needed to chase away ever single shred of confusing, sadness, and doubt he had bubbling up inside him. She wanted him to be confident in knowing that she loved him. That thought made her freeze, made her break the kiss and stare at him again. Love. Yes, it was love. Whether she said those words today or next year, he could see it in her eyes. It would be enough for now. 

Tom pulled her back down, his lips taking hers in an achingly sweet kiss that was not only felt in the present, but echoed back across time, mirroring a stolen moment between lovers. He could almost feel Imhotep, feel the powerful love he had for Anck-Su-Namun calling out to him from the past. Tom had to find a way to use Imhotep’s memories to their advantage, to aide Sun against her sister. Unfortunately, the memories were fragmented, or they were shrouded in blackness. Sun was right. Once they set foot in the oasis, more would be revealed to them. It made him impatient to continue on.

 

 

**MIDNIGHT:**

 

 

Sun stood by the tailgate of the Range Rover making the last checks to her luggage. The number of weapons she had on her would never get her through Charles De Gaulle airport. In her ruck sack, she carried a single change of clothes, a large canteen, granola and power bars, as well as beef jerky. She also had a black head scarf to protect her from the desert sun with a matching robe, as well as sunglasses and fingerless gloves. When they had started to pack that evening, Tom had put the map, the key, and a few of her grandpa’s journals in his satchel. She would resist re-reading the worn leather journal while in the company of strangers; Gavin in particular. He didn’t need to know what was going on, only that she needed to get into Egypt under the radar.

“Are you sure this guy is reliable?” tom asked, situated the strap of the satchel across his body. He was making it a point not to stare at Gavin, even though the man was unabashedly staring at Sun.  At his side, Tom clenched his fist fighting back the urge to show the other man that he had no place at her side. That spot was reserved for Tom. As if sensing his thoughts, Sun’s hand resting on his left hip, her fingers curling into the khaki pants he wore. Her touch went a long way towards calming him. 

“He may be a smuggler, but he’s an honest one,” Sun answered. The look on Tom’s face conveyed his thoughts better than any words he could have used. So, she said again, “He’s a good man in a dishonest profession, but he’ll keep his word and get us safely to where we need to go.” 

“I don’t see why we couldn’t have taken a normal flight out…” Tom sighed. All this cloak and dagger mystery was starting to wear him down. It was exciting, her could admit, but after three thousand years of memories coming to the surface, he could use a little less excitement.

“Babe,” Sun said affectionately, “with all the weapons I’m lugging around, I wouldn’t have a prayer in the Underworld of getting through security, let alone making it onto the plane.” When Ben had brought her the bag originally, he and Lyla had taken a ferry across the channel. Less security, more tourists. If she had attempted a normal flight. she would be in handcuffs before she could even shout lawyer. It would be embarrassing and delay things between her and her sister.

Tom couldn’t help but chuckle. “‘Babe’?”

“Yeah,” Sun said with a smirk. “I’m trying it on for size. Do you like it?”

“I do,” Tom replied and nodded. “Though, if I’m being honest, I prefer…” he trailed off, listing his hands to caress the air above her face. Sun’s eyes closed and she moaned softly. He loved the look of bliss that came over her from the gesture.

Sun didn’t have to reply. She didn’t even have to open her eyes. Lifting her right hand, she moved it over his face, returning all the love they had between them. It might have started as a secret gesture, but now it had become a symbol that neither of them was willing to let be forgotten. His hands slipped around her waist, holding her close as she touched her forehead to his lips.

Tom was certain Gavin had seen the entire exchange between them. It made the sting of jealously lessen inside him. The other man was of little concern to him now. “If you’re sure this is the best way…” he said softly, his lips kissing her brown with each word he spoke. 

Sun nodded. “Gavin’s already logged a false flight plan. Once we’re halfway to Egypt, he’ll deactivate the transponder and we’ll go dark as we fly to Luxor.” She wasn’t going to tell him that she’d done this before, more than few times. Each time Gavin had gotten her safely where she secretly needed to go. 

Tom locked eyes with her as he said, “I trust you.” 

Across the field, Ben stood with his mate, Gavin. The pilot couldn’t take his eyes off Sun, nor Tom.  There was a tick working in Gavin’s jaw that made Ben take notice. This had the potential to blow up in their faces if one wrong move was made. He knew his friend had a crush – a hardcore one – on Sun, and before it never seemed to bother Ben to know this. More often than not, he used it to his advantage, but he could see it could become a problem. Especially since Sun was here with Tom and they were looking pretty cozy with each other. 

“When she meet him?” Gavin asked, trying his best not to sound suspicious. 

Ben fiddled with the leather band on his wrist as he answered, “Few days ago, I think. You’ll have to ask Lyla. Why do you care? Thought you were seeing that buxom Scottish girl?”

“I was… then her father found out,” Gavin replied cringing. 

“Tough break,” Ben commented, slapping Gavin on the back. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

At the Range Rover, Lyla got out of the back seat after having gotten an e-mail from Uncle Richard, Sun’s father.  “Sun, you better call your dad, it’s serious,” Lyla warned her cousin. The body of text was vague, but she could read the under current of stress in every word. The situation with Sarah must’ve escalated. 

“Okay,” Sun said, sighing. She stepped reluctantly away from Tom and pulled out her cell phone. Before she had the chance to hone him, her father’s caller ID popped up with a picture of them on the temple island of Philae. Quickly, she answered it, “Dad, what’s the matter?” 

_“Where are you, Sunshine?”_  

Sun smiled at her dad’s endearment. “I’m in Paris, dad, on my barge,” she answered semi-honestly. Technically, she was still in Paris. Thankfully, Gavin hadn’t started the plane yet, so she had a little wiggle room to fib.

_“Paris? I thought you’d still be in New York.”_  

“I had to get away because… I… met someone.” Sun looked right at Tom as she said that to her father. “He’s from Paris, so it was perfect.” She held up her left hand and then his fingers were lacing with hers, his palm hot against her own. 

_“You met someone, honey? Why didn’t you tell me yesterday when I called?”_  

“You sounded stressed out about Sarah, I didn’t want to have you worry that your youngest was possibly taking up with a serial killer.” Sun winked at Tom to let him know she was only kidding. Though, knowing her father, the thought probably would have crossed his mind right after his need to find a shot gun. 

_“When have I ever thought like that?”_  

“I was seventeen and a boy asked me out on a date,” Sun answered without a moment’s pause.  However, as much as she loved talking with her dad on the phone, she knew her time was limited. “You sent Lyla an e-mail, but she didn’t tell me what it said. Is something wrong, dad? Have you found Sarah?” 

_“Not yet, baby girl. I did, however, find Avery. Apparently, Sarah put him in hospital in Cairo. He has twelve broken bones and is in a coma for the mean time. Your mother and I are flying there in the morning to be with him. I’ve tasked a few old Special Forces friends of mine to track her down. I want you to stay in Paris. Do you hear me?”_  

“Yes, dad, I hear you,” Sun said, but she made no promises. “Did the doctor’s put him in a medically induced coma or was he already in one?” If Avery had twelve broken bones, he was either pushed from a great height, or was in a car accident. Either way, it looked bad for Sarah. 

_“Medical. Once your mother and I are at the hospital we’ll know more. They were reluctant to tell us much over the phone.”_

“Is there anything I can do?” Sun asked already knowing the answer he was going to give her. 

_“Stay in Paris.”_  

“Okay. I love you, daddy,” Sun said softly and then ended the call. She had just given herself away, she knew it, but she didn’t want him to come to Paris and lock her up somewhere with big hulking Marine’s following her every move. Richard O’Connell, former Navy Seal, would have done just that too.

 

 

**FLIGHT PATH OVER EGYPT**

**FIVE HOURS IN:**

 

 

Tom had never been in a private jet before. He imagined the only people having access to one were people with very healthy bank accounts or CEO’s of multi-national companions.  There was so much more to Sun than he had originally thought. Granted, when he first saw her, he thought it a bit odd that she would be sitting in on college lectures. Boy, he was glad he agreed to take over Andrew’s class for the day that ended up being a week-long search for his mystery guest. Beside him, his idea of the perfect woman dozed. Lightly, he traced the bridge of her nose and the little furrow at the tip. She moaned lightly and he smiled. At the worst possible time, his cell phone buzzed. Silently snarling, Tom fished it out of his pocket. He had a missed call from an UNKNOWN number. “Lyla, do you have SAT phone I could use?” he asked the only other person – besides the pilot – who was still awake. 

Lyla looked up from her magazine when Tom spoke to her. “Sure, give me a sec…” She got up from her seat and went to the bar. Opening the little liquor cabinet, she felt towards the back where the phone was hidden.  Pulling it out, she walked over and handed it to him. “Something wrong?” she asked. 

“I got a call from an unknown number and I don’t want to call it back from my cell phone,” Tom explained. He hoped it wasn’t too unreasonable thing to ask. 

“If it’s a sex line, I won’t tell,” Lyla joked with a wink. 

“Very kind,” Tom replied carefully.  He dialed the number, listening to it ring. Finally, the call connected, and he said, “I missed a call from this number.” 

_“You rat bastard! You leave without a word and then have the nerve to call me from a blocked number! I’m going to punch you in the face the next time I see you!”_  

“Andrew, calm down. I had to leave, something came up.” Tom looked to his left where Sun was still sleeping.

_“Something? Something?! Not good enough! I was busting my ass to try and find your mystery woman and you just vanish. Where are you, anyway?”_  

“With my mystery woman, on a plane, and we’re headed to Paris.” Tom hadn’t meant to lie, but Andrew didn’t need to know what was happening. Things were going to get dangerous and if he knew his friend, Andrew would want to be in the thick of it with him. Tom couldn’t let that happen. 

_“You’re an asshole… Did you ever think maybe I wanted to go to Paris too? I got a woman to look for as well. The cute friend of your mystery woman. I was interested in seeing if there might be something there for me.”_  

“I think I can help you out on that one,” Tom said cryptically. He waved the sat phone at Lyla, getting her attention. “For you.”

Lyla came over, taking the phone from him, and held it to her ear where she asked, “Hello?" 

_“You’re her…”_

“Dr, Andrew Combs, I presume…” Lyla giggled, going back to her seat.

“That was nice of you.”

Tom looked at Sun. “You’re awake?” he asked, though he shouldn’t be surprised by that.

“Light sleeper,” Sun answered. She watched her cousin revert back to a giddy school girl because the cute boy had finally called her. After all of this was over, she hoped Lyla got the chance to see if there was anything between her and the good Doctor. Sun knew what happiness was. She wanted the same for Lyla.

In the cockpit, Gavin pulled out an encrypted cell phone and sent one message. _On route to Luxor. ETA three hours._

 

 

**TO BE CONTINUED….**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Present and the Past converge

They had landed an hour ago, just before dawn, at a small private air field. Lyla and Ben were silently arguing, while Gavin did a cursory check. Sun fished around in her ruck sack for the desert garb she had packed. Pulling out the heavier robe for him, and the lighter black chiffon one for herself, as well as the head scarves, she stood up handing the garments to him. Sun watched him shrug into the robe and cinching the ties. He took the long black scarf, put it over his head, and threw the right side over his left shoulder. She couldn’t help but smile at him. Even without her surfacing memories, she could easily picture him in the ancient world. 

Tom fit his borrowed sunglasses into place as he asked, “Where to now?” He fit the strap of the satchel across his body and then stuck his hand inside to make sure he had what they needed; map, puzzle box, and the journal belonging to her grandfather. When she didn’t answer him, he fixed his gaze on her to see what she was doing. Sun shrugged into a shoulder rig with two holsters on either side made especially for the .45 caliber guns she had. The back of the harness had a larger holster, but she left it empty. 

Sun secured her weapons and then put her desert coverings on. “Not far from here is a little Bedouin camp where we can get two camels and then set off in the direction of the oasis,” she answered him. Sun put her sunglasses on and then looked up at the sky. It was still early enough to be dark out but with just a hint of the sun’s first light creeping over the horizon. They could make it to the camp without the heat being down on them. “You ever ride a camel before?” she asked him teasingly.

“Have you?” Tom asked in the same tone. 

Sun smirked. She took his hand and together they set off towards the camp. The shifted sand made a brisk pace difficult, but possible. “At least I’m getting my cardio in for the day,” she laughed. 

“I’ve been in the classroom too long,” Tom said with a groan. Already his calf muscles were starting to burn. Running the streets of Paris was not like walking on the sands of Egypt. At least in Paris the cobblestones weren’t shifting under his feet.

“After this,” Sun said, “you may never want to do field work again.” First, they had to survive whatever game Sarah was playing. They had one advantage; their memories. His hand tightened on hers, telling her that this was worth it.

A half hour of walking paid off. Tom saw the out cropping of tents set against crumbling ruins of a once small village. Then he heard the lowing of camels. He felt eager anticipation race through him at the prospect of riding one into the desert. For the next ten minutes, however, he spent it listening to Sun haggle with the camel trader. She was getting frustrated and finally shifted, letting him see the butt of her gun. The man immediately changed his position, taking the money Sun offered. At least Tom thought it was because she flashed her gun. It could have been for some other reason entirely. She was intimidating beyond all words, though not to him.

Sun hated to haggle. She hated men who thought they could get her to budge simply because she was a woman. So, she did something her father called ‘Scary Face’, to get what she wanted. It was something she rarely ever did, but time was not on their side. To her, it made her more of a thug and less of a civilized woman she knew herself to be. She had to be more articulate and be more persuasive. Not scary. So, she paid the man and tried not to notice the way he cringed. 

Tom checked the saddle mount on the camel to his right. A couple of kids were running around, laughing as they came up to him, poking his leg, and then scampering away when he made a playfully mean face at them. He laughed with them. Then, he swung himself up and settled into the saddle, grabbing the thick braided reigns. He was hit with a wave of recognition and a sense of elation. The part of him that recognized the name Imhotep knew where they had to go and was eager to get there. There was a memory waiting to be triggered in the oasis and it wasn’t one that carried sorrow with it. This memory would be a happy one.

Sun secured her bag to the back of her camel’s saddle, as well as her ruck sack. She took a moment to wrap the strap of her canteen around the back horn. Then, she checked the SAT phone on the pocket by her left knee in her cargo pants. No calls from Lyla. Though, she didn’t expect it, not for a few more hours at least. Sun was ready, but a little nervous if she was being honest with herself. She had butterflies in her stomach. Setting off into the desert with a man she just met to learn about a past that has caused her family so much trouble would make anyone take a moment to think about their choices. When she looked as Tom, however, the choice was made for her. She had to know who she was, who they were together. She situated herself in the saddle and then looked at Tom. He nodded, silently telling her he was ready, and they set off on their journey.

The hot sun was high in the sky, signaling that it was the top of the hour. Tom had settled into the back and forth motion of his camel’s steady steps. He pulled out the map, though he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he could use it to orient themselves. This was from three thousand years ago and the landscape had definitely shifted over the millennia. When he looked at it, he felt his vision blur. When he cleared it, he was looking at a landscape that had slightly changed. Pulling on the reigns of his camel, he got the animal to stop. “Hold,” he said, but the word was foreign on his tongue. 

Sun heard the ancient Egyptian word for ‘hold’ and did just thought. Tom was looking around, but not seeing their current scape. He was seeing the past version of their location. She held her questions until he got his bearings. In the silence that stretched between them, he tugged on the reigns, guiding his camel a little to the left. Sun followed him, trusting that he knew where they needed to go. “Have we veered off course?” she asked in the same old dialect. For long moments, he didn’t answer her. They just kept going. Then she saw where they were going. They were heading towards the mountains. She knew they were headed in the right direction now and she was content to follow his lead. 

Tom leaned forward, his head dizzy, but one deep breath and it was over. To his left, Sun’s hand touched his arm and he smiled. “I’m all right,” he said as he rested his hand over hers. “It was strange to see this place so different and yet the same. It had a timeless feel to it,” Tom spoke, unsure if he was making any semblance of sense or not. The feeling that he was following the same path as Imhotep was nearly overwhelming. He had to be mindful that he, in the present, was going to make different choices. 

Sun reached behind, tugging on the strap of the canteen until she freed it. Then she handed it over, speaking softly, “Here, drink some water.”

“I’m fine,” Tom replied, waving off the offering. 

“Humor me,” Sun responded lightly, shaking the canteen at him. They’d already been in the desert for nearly six hours. She knew once they reached the oasis, there would be a place for them to refill the canteen. Of course, all of this hope was pinned on memories from three thousand years ago. There was no guarantee that the place they were heading was actually still there after all this time. 

Tom sighed, rolled his eyes, and took it. Unscrewing the top, he lifted the large jug to his lips taking a deep drink of the water that was somehow still cold. Another gulp and he was lowering it to return the cap to its rightful place. “Thank you,” he said handing the container back to her. Then Tom asked, “What do you think we’ll find in this oasis?” 

“Something happy,” Sun answered without a moment’s hesitation. “I know that when we get there we’re going to see more of our past, more of a time when they were truly happy together.” 

“Are you sure?” Tom asked. 

“I am,” Sun said and nodded. 

Tom fell silent for a moment. He thought about the direction they were heading, about Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun making their way towards their rest stop, and he couldn’t help but feel the same elation Sun was talking about. The last was branded with the happiness of two people in love, two people who didn’t have to hide for fear of being discovered. “I think their happiness was only possible while Seti was away at Kadesh,” he said, going on instinct. When she had recalled the triumph parade, and Pharaoh’s return, the memory was marred with sorrow and loss. They were once more enslaved to secrecy and fear. 

“Seti was gone for nearly two years, Nefertiri was named regent in his place, and we dared to leave the palace and Thebes,” Sun spoke, trying to recall her time as Anck-Su-Namun. As quickly as the feeling came over her, it was gone again, and that left her to growl in frustration. 

“Give it time,” Tom said reassuringly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. If there was one thing he learned since the rising of the first memory, they couldn’t be forced. Their recollections gave him more to think about. Their time together in the Pharaoh’s absence revolved around the secret that Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun were still keeping, even in death. It led him to think about to the night of the murder. Tom felt there was more motivating it other than a split-second decision on her part. They weren’t just protecting each other. They were protecting their secret. But what?

Sun saw Tom thinking too hard about their past. Gently, she repeated his words back to him, “Give it time.” Combatting the butterflies in her stomach, she concentrated on the happiness pervading her straight to her soul. She was in Egypt with him and they were heading towards a secret, tranquil place where their past selves got to be in love, to make love to one another. That would be the perfect place for them to honor the past, to let the spark of love between them grown into a raging pyre that consumed them and united their souls together. The anticipation was nearly too much to bear. 

 

SUNSET:

 

Tom’s camel was getting tired, he could tell. It took more and more effort to keep the animal on track and heading in the direction he wanted. Next to him, Sun was having the same problem. Then something caught his attention, the sound of hot desert air moving through leaves. “Do you hear that?” he asked Sun. Their camel’s continued to move in the direction of the whispering wind until Tom’s jaw was dropping. The oasis. It was still around. 

“Oh, my gods…” Sun said in one long breath. She took tugged on the reigns, getting her camel to stop and then with a series of tongue clicks, she was signaling her transportation to go to the ground. Part of her recognized this place and that part set off at a run. She was distantly aware of Tom calling out to her. Sun was determined to break through the dense foliage and set foot inside a little slice of paradise. 

“Hut, hut, hut!” Tom urged his camel on, hoping the other one would follow with the fast pace being set. Chasing after her set his heart galloping a mile a minute with fear. Then he lost sight of her as she was enveloped in the greenery of the oasis. Suddenly, his camel stopped, dropping down to the ground with a groan of annoyance mixed with exhaustion. Without even pausing after setting foot on the sand, he took off at a run. The moment he was inside the green boundary, he noticed the temperature difference, and he saw Sun. Going to her, he gripped her arms, pulling her around to face him. “Don’t take off like that! You scared me!” 

Sun had run flat out until she was amidst the lush green vegetation of the oasis. The sound of water caught her attention immediately as well as the tent. It was far from modern and she knew that she had slept in it before. This place existed out of time and was infused with such strong memories that she couldn’t help but to fall silent and reverent to the power held in this place. Then hands were gripping her, turning her, and a voice was cutting through her dazed mind. Tom. He was worried. It snapped her out of her wonderment enough to say, “Look.” She pointed to the tent. 

Tom dropped his hands from Sun’s arms and gazed at the tent. “What is this place?” he asked silently. The tent was made from ancient canvas, decorated in gold, and painted with hieroglyphs to ward of evil. The scarab at the top was the same symbol from the amulet Imhotep had worn every day of his adult life as High Priest. Tom took a single step closer, being drawn to the open flaps by some unseen force. There was something waiting for them in there, but he was reluctant to move any further with out Sun taking those steps with him. 

“It’s been waiting for us,” Sun said, reaching out to take Tom’s hand. Like before, a circuit connected, and they were taken back in time. The oasis remained the same, but the feeling changed. 

“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now,” Tom muttered. His confusion was vying for dominance over the unnatural sense of happiness filling every fiber of his being. In this place, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun were the only two people in the world. They didn’t have to hide their love here, they didn’t have to look away for fear of being caught. 

Sun turned to him, her hands cupping his face as she responded. “We re-create a little history.” And then she was pulling him down for a deep, soul searing kiss. She pressed herself against him, wrapping her arms around him, branding his body with hers. He belonged to her and she to him. Love had never been a concern to her, not until she met Tom, not until she tasted his lips for the first time, not until she raised her hand and caressed the air above his face. 

Tom broke the kiss, gasping, “I thought you didn’t want sex.” Not that he was complaining. Being in between the sheets with her would be like entering heaven. He would worship her body for hours, offering payers to whatever gods were listening, thanking them for bringing her back to him, bringing her into his life. 

“I was waiting until we were here,” Sun replied sweetly. This place was a slice of memory outside of time. This was where Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun made love for the first time, solidifying their bond to each other. “It was here that they started down their path and it’s one we have to walk if we’re ever to understand them in relation to ourselves.” She placed her hand over his heart, letting the beat thump against her palm. “Do you think we’re rushing into this?”

“Not for a second,” Tom replied. Everything she said to him made perfect sense. Resting his hand over hers, he drew in close again. The kiss that shared was aching sweet and slow. Without needing to see where they were going, Tom guided them towards the tent where he knew a bed waited for them. He dropped his hands down to her hips, running back to grip her thighs where he lifted her effortlessly. She locked her legs around him, draping her arms over his shoulders. 

Sun heard the fluttering of tent flaps. She broke the seal of their lips looking back over her shoulder and saw the white canvas flaps open, inviting them inside. Her heart skipped a beat in anticipation. Tom felt the same, his arms tightening on her. Then he took a step up, his boot making a sound on the wooden platform. She sucked in a sharp breath. He carried her closer to the waiting bed and with each step her butterflies grew in intensity. They weren’t just hers. Anck-Su-Namun had been just as nervous, just as eager to be wrapped up in Imhotep’s arms. 

Tom took that first step into the tent fit for royalty. The bed was in the center, dressed in white cotton sheets, and matching pillows. Reluctantly, he let her stand on her own two feet, but he didn’t let her get too far from him. He pulled her back against his chest and moved her hair aside to place a kiss to the back of her neck. Sun moaned lightly. Tom took the robe from her shoulders, dragging it down her arms, and casted it away from them. He was about to reach for her shoulder rig when she stopped him. 

Sun turned to face him and while he watched her, she unhooked the leather from her belt, she shrugged out of the holster. Under normal circumstances, she would have hung the rig up, but the heated look from Tom made her lax. She let it fall to the floor. The clatter went unnoticed by both of them. Her hands moved to the buttons of her shirt, but he stopped her.

Without breaking their gaze, Tom curled his fingers into the fabric of her white shirt, pulling it free of her pants. Like he had on her barge, he started from the bottom button, moving slowly up. When he freed the last one, he slipped his hands under the shoulders of the shirt, pushing it down her arms. Sun’s breathing changed, growing shorter and more uneven with every passing second. He was about to reach for the front clasp of her bra when she stopped him. 

Sun smiled, putting her hands on the outer layer of the robe. Mirroring his actions, she helped him out of it, letting it fall to the floor around his feet. His shirt was a simple cotton t-shirt that she relished pushing up his abdomen, revealing the flat expanse and the moderate muscle of his chest. She had a moment to miss the amulet that she used to love to trace with her finger. But that moment passed when he took the shirt from her, taking it the rest of the way off. He was glorious to behold, and not just her memory of him. Setting the tips of her fingers against the subtle rise of his collar bones, she slowly drew her fingers down his chest.

Tom gave himself over to her touch that was as light as the whispering wind over his bare flesh. He exhaled a shuddering breath when her finger tips ran over his nipples. She continued moving down, bringing to life the full force of his desire for her. Tom needed the taste of her one his tongue, and he didn’t fight the need. Taking her lips, he moaned into her mouth while his fingers freed the closure of her bra. She took her hands from him, giving him the vague sense that she had taken the garment off. Everything else faded away when her arms draped over his shoulders and her chest pressed to his.

Sun lost herself in his kiss, feeling it resonate back into the past. She took pleasure in the way their lips danced, their tongues caressing each other. Her body was burning with desire, being fueled by him, by his very presence. Sun moaned again when he dug his fingers in the flesh of her side, trying to pull her even closer to him. They were trying to climb inside one another. Pulling back, she gasped for air after her lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen. Kissing him was more important than breathing normally. The brief pause gave her the chance to search his eyes. From his heated gaze, she could see he wanted her on the bed. Without verbally replying, she went to sit on the edge, and started undoing the laces of her boots. 

Tom took a moment to regain some of his equilibrium. Never before had he been so consumed by a woman as he was by Sun. It should have terrified him, yet, she was more than he thought he would ever have. There was a give and take between them, her passion flowed into him, filling him, giving him power. He was able to repay her in kind, filling her with his passion. Looking at her, he watched her kick off her boots, and scoot back on the bed. She slid with ease and that made him moan. The sight was incredibly sexy. Before joining her, he removed his boots as well. 

Sun went so far as to undo her belt, but no further. She was distracted by Tom kneeling on the edge of the bed, crawling towards her. Sun pressed her head into the bedding, closing her eyes, letting her body feel his movements. Her stomach quivered when she felt his hot breath touched her skin moments before his lips did. He kissed her below he navel moments before pulling back and curling his fingers into the waistband of her pants. She yelped in surprise when he tugged her pants down, and then laughed as he continued to tug. Finally, the khakis came off, leaving her in just her underwear. When she opened her eyes, Tom was looking at her, the blatant hunger in his eyes made whatever laughter still lingering inside her vanish. 

Tom gripped her behind her left knee, lifting her leg up to place a kiss there. Her sharp intake of breath let him know she liked what he was doing. Moving further up, he placed another light kiss to the top of her thigh and then further up to the subtle rise of her hip bone. Tom didn’t linger long at her hip, he continued his journey up her body, kissing a path towards her breasts. Darting his tongue out, he touched the underside of her left breast, and licked up until he closed his lips around her pert nipple.

Sun arched into him, moaning as his tongue moved over her sensitive skin. She placed her right hand on his shoulder, her fingers digging into the muscles, feeling tense as he held himself above her. Not wanting to remain idle, Sun slipped her left hand down, touching him. She felt the weight of his hardness through the durable khaki of his pants. It was nearly killing her to wait to have inside her, but she didn’t want to give up the feeling of his mouth on her just yet. 

Tom could get drunk on the taste of her skin alone. Lightly taking her nipple between his teeth, he lightly tugged before releasing it. She gasped and moaned for him. Her hand pressed into him and it was his turn to moan. Coming up, he placed his lips to hers again, rocking against her hand. He was so focused on kissing her, on the heated touch of her hand burning into him through the layer of his pants, that he was unprepared for her to take him to the bed beneath her. Tom was looking up at her, the fire in her eyes matching what was inside him. 

Sun rested her hands on Tom’s chest, the tip of her nose barely touching his. Lightly, she kissed him while keeping her eyes locked with his. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew that as her heart beat, so did his. When she kissed him, she hoped she would never stop. He was her past, her present, and her future. Sun moved off him, sitting by his side to give him a saucy smile. He didn’t need to respond. Getting up, he made a show of unbuttoning the button and lowering the zipper. It was then she caught the first glimpse of his hard length. 

Tom pushed the pants halfway down his hips when she stood in front of him. She had her fingers curled into the band of her panties, having moved them halfway down her hips. He pushed the fabric down a little more and she moved with him. Clearing his hips, the thick, rugged khaki fell to pool around his ankles. She shimmied out of her underwear. In sync with each other, they stepped out of the last of their clothing. Then Tom held up his left hand and her right came to rest against it. He laced their fingers together as he said, “You walked right out of my dreams and became my reality.”

Sun didn’t have to reply to him, her kiss told him all she needed to tell hm. The press of her body to his brought them back to the raging passion. She moaned and gasped and craved to be united with him in the only way a man could be joined to a woman. “Take me,” she moaned. He guided her down to the bed, moving her to the center where she welcomed him into the cradle of his body. The head of his desire slid between her nether lips, nudging at her intimate channel. She was wet and ready for him. With one hard thrust, he was inside her.

Tom took a moment, going as still as he could. “Oh, gods…” his voice was a strangled gasp. He couldn’t believe how easily they fit together. She drew his gaze and as their eyes met, he moved his hips. The cascade of pleasure that raced through him and into her nearly had them coming undone. He surged into her again and again, needing more of her, needing the way her body locked on him.

Sun was experiencing too many things at once. The longer she gazed into his eyes, she felt part of her soul leaving her body, entering him, and part of his soul filling her. Tom thrust again, his hips grinding into hers. A very loud, very satisfied moan filled the tent around. They were truly becoming one and together they were hurtling towards a release that would solidify their bond. Sun moved with him, breathed with him, moaned when he did. They were each an extension of the other and that helped to bring them to completion. 

The last thing Tom did, before giving himself over to the rolling orgasm, was to seal his lips to hers. One last thrust and they were falling into the arms of intense ecstasy. He was oblivious to everything outside their little world, to everything that wasn’t Sun’s body cradling him, her heart beating in time with his, or his soul being mated to hers. This felt better than anything ever had in his whole life. 

 

THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO:

 

Anck-Su-Namun woke feeling as light as a feather. Last night, Imhotep had stolen her away from the palace, spiriting her off into the desert. They were in an oasis enjoying the freedom of being together out from under the watchful eye of courtiers, the Medjai, and even the servants. The Pharaoh had gone off to wage war against the Hittites and liberate the city of Kadesh from their stranglehold. Princess Nefertiri had been named as Regent in his absence and would have little to now time to pay attention to anything else that didn’t pertain to affairs of state. She could hardly contain her joy yesterday morning when his chariot rode off at the head of his army. 

It was still dark when Anck-Su-Namun sat up finding Imhotep lying on his stomach, his face turned away from her, and his arms up with his hands dangling over the top edge of the platform bed. She stared at the expanse of his back, remembering the feel of his muscles tensing under her hands as they made love through the night. Moving the thin cotton sheet from her body, she stretched out on top of him whispering in his ear, “Arise, my lord, Ra conquers the heavens.” Then, to be playful, she nipped his ear.

Imhotep groaned, mumbling, “Too…early….” Though, the smile on his face would prove he was more awake than his words conveyed. He found a few hours to sleep, to rest before the craving he had for her body drove him to have her, to be had by her. He relished having her stretched out on top of him. “Sleep a few more hours,” he urged. The sky was still too dark for his liking. 

“How can you sleep?” Anck-Su-Namun asked, putting a little fake whine in her voice. She placed a kiss to his neck, just under the ear she had nipped. It was intoxicating to be with him like this, to be able to touch him the way she wanted. It had been a single day since the Pharaoh’s departure.

“I was worn out by a ravenous lioness,” Imhotep responded. He dug deep, found a burst of strength to shake her off, and roll over to pin her to the bed. Playfully, she struggled, but soon they dissolved into laughter. He curled around her, pressing his lips to her brow. 

“Can you pray to the gods, asking them to make this moment last forever?” Anck-Su-Namun asked. She could not imagine this moment ending. 

“Perhaps there is a way,” Imhotep suggested. He did not want to get her hopes up, but he had an idea.

Anck-Su-Namun sat up abruptly, staring down at him. “You must tell me,” she demanded, placing her hand over his heart. Any chance she had to be alone with him, to be out in the open at his side was a chance to be happy. 

“Would you like to sail down the Nile with me, to take a tour of the Kingdom?” Imhotep asked. He’d been putting off such a journey ever since their first meeting. He could not in good conscience leave her alone to suffer under the fickle hand of the Pharaoh with no safe harbor to turn to. Imhotep had to be there for her incase Seti… He could not finish that thought. 

“When do we leave?” Anck-Su-Namun asked eagerly. She had lived in Thebes her whole life, never having been to another city. This desert oasis was the furthest she had ever been.

“Not for some time,” Imhotep answered honestly. “We have to be sure that he stays to see the campaign through. The last time he went off to war, he was injured and transported back to Thebes to recuperate. He had been away for two months that time.” This was before either he or Seti had ever set eyes on Anck-Su-Namun. 

“Two months will seem to be an eternity,” Anck-Su-Namun said softly, but her voice was full of happiness. She now how something to look forward to. She would be with Imhotep and their love would flourish in the light of the day. There was no need to worry about being recognized. No one outside the palace knew she was supposed to belong to the Pharaoh.

 

TWO MONTHS LATER:

 

The day finally came for Imhotep to make his journey. Before any other living soul had woken for the day, he and Anck-Su-Namun boarded the barge that had been gifted to him by Seti. The reports from the battlefield were promising. Pharaoh would be away for many more months, leading the army to glorious victory. They, on the other hand, would be loving each other every chance they could. Traveling with them would be Imhotep’s most trusted priest’s, and his own detachment of guards. They didn’t answer to the Medjai. On this morning his heart beat faster, his body was thrumming with anticipation. 

Anck-Su-Namun stood at the stern of the barge, her hands resting on the wide railing. She breathed deeply of the early morning air, letting it fill her lungs and wake her up. For a moment, all seemed to be well, and then her stomach was pitching, shifting with nausea. She fought against it, but to no avail. Leaning over the railing, she heaved, expelling the contents of her stomach. As she finished, she felt a presence behind her. It was her love and she could feel his concern. She pressed the back of her hand to her lips, standing up straight, and turned to him. Her only answer to the question in his eyes was a shake of her head.

“Are you ill?” Imhotep asked, reaching out to place his hands gently on her hips. This was not the first time he had seen her reduced to such a state. There was a small hope filling him that she was with child, his child. They had not exactly denied themselves the pleasure of being with each other these last two months. He knew that whenever she shared the bed of Seti, she took steps to prevent bearing him yet another son or daughter. 

Anck-Su-Namun thought about her reply. “I feel strange. Not sick, but far from normal.” She wasn’t going to allow this to keep them from enjoying their time together. “We can still make the journey down Nile.” 

“Are you sure?” Imhotep inquired, resting his forehead to hers. Her words were music to his ears. He would do anything, move Heaven and Earth, to have this time with her alone.

“I am,” Anck-Su-Namun replied. She needed this. They needed to be together. It was already too late to turn back as Thebes was fading in the distance as the sailed towards to mouth of the Nile. 

Confident that she was fine for the moment, Imhotep lifted her, situating her on the edge of the railing, and putting himself between her parted knees. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his cheek against her jaw. Now was as good a time as any. Pulling back slightly, he took his right arm from around her and reached into the inside pocket of his robes. In the palm of his hand were two rings; gold coiled snakes. She took them, taking the bigger one to slide onto his middle finger of his right hand. Then, she handed the smaller one back to him. Her right hand was shaking as he slid the coiled serpent into it. They smiled at one another seconds before he kissed her sweetly, just a press of his lips to hers.

The day slipped by unnoticed. Anck-Su-Namun felt her body return to normal, and even had a healthy appetite when the evening meal was prepared. She was ravenous in fact. It was liberating to be out of the palace with Imhotep. His fellow priests were without their gold paint. They were normal people sitting around sharing a meal, sharing laughs, and talking about the latest gossip. It was strange to hear a devout priest gossip. Mostly, she sat by and watched the man she loved interact with those around him. He had a caring soul and a good heart. That, more than anything, was why she was in love with him. 

When night found them, the barge was docked at Abydos. Imhotep had left to go to the temple of Osiris to pray to the great god. Anck-Su-Namun remained behind with the contingent of guards. She respected his faith but did not pray to the same god as he. This was never a source of contention between them, however. He knew she was a warrior; fought and trained like any soldier in the army of Seti. When Anck-Su-Namun had the occasion to pray, she offered her prayers to Sekhmet, the goddess of war. After the appropriate offerings were given, his prayers given, Imhotep returned to the barge to find her in bed, the thin sheet was all she was wearing. He shed his robes and joined her.

The days that came and went found Anck-Su-Numan relatively back to her normal self. She hadn’t been sick, her appetite was back, and she was happier than she’d ever been. Imhotep was attentive to her, taking her through the towns they came to. He even took her to Amarna, showing her around the ruins of the abandoned city once dedicated to the god, Aten, during the reign of Akhenaten. She was enraptured with the sight of the crumbling ruins that they made camp and stayed for as long as she wished to explore. They stayed for nearly a week. With him at her side, she explored nearly every nook and cranny of the once mighty city. Would Thebes someday look like this? It was foolish to think it would endure for all time. She shook that wicked thought from her head and concentrated on being with Imhotep and seeing the rest of the vast Kingdom that Seti ruled over.

It wasn’t until they reached Memphis that Imhotep saw noticeable changes in Anck-Su-Namun. In the bustling city they were able to find a doctor with the time to see them. He was more than happy to give up his time for a High Priest of Osiris. It took him all of five minutes to tell them that Anck-Su-Namun was with child. They had taken a few minutes to digest the information, to understand all that it meant. Rather than talk about it, Imhotep took her hand, and they walked through the crowded streets. He let the noise drown out all his thoughts while he sorted out his feelings. Happiness was the first one to make itself known, but then fear reared its ugly head. During this journey, he’d kept his ears open for news of the Pharaoh’s return. So far, they were still free. 

Anck-Su-Namun followed Imhotep, not really seeing where they were going. She was pregnant. Imhotep was the father. Somehow, she already knew. Her body had been waiting for him, for his seed to create new life. Anck-Su-Namun placed her right hand over her slightly swollen belly and smiled. But that elation lasted only a moment. When they shared a look, they were both thinking the same thing. Seti would have them killed for such treachery. One of the things they could hope for was that his military campaign lasted for years. No matter what, for the mean time, they couldn’t return to Thebes. They spent the rest of the day roaming the city.

That night neither of them could sleep. Imhotep was curled around Anck-Su-Namun’s legs, his full attention was centered on her abdomen. He kissed her exposed flesh below her navel over and over. This was where his child was growing. He could hardly believe it was happening and yet, it was. For now, they could lose themselves in city life, living in Memphis or continuing on to another city. Those decisions could be made tomorrow. Tonight, he wanted to enjoy the news that he was to be a father. 

Anck-Su-Namun stroked the back of Imhotep’s head, trying to enjoy the way he lavished attention upon her, upon their unborn child. But fear was trying to work its way into her heart. She was afraid, not for herself, but for him and their baby. They had options. One being they could run, make a new life in the far east, and forget all about Egypt and their life of luxury. Another option was them going back to Thebes, daring fate to break them apart. Or, they could simply stay in Memphis. She hated every one of those limited choices. So, she asked, “Are you angry with me?”

Imhotep heard her whispered words and immediately moved up to look her in the eyes. “No,” he said, “I love you more than I did the day before.” It was true. His heart was about to burst with all the happiness filling it. He was allowing himself this day, this night, to be truly happy. Upon the rising of the sun on the next day, he would start to make plans.

“We should flee this very night,” Anck-Su-Namun said, her words quivering under the weight of her fear. 

Imhotep sat up, the sheet pooling in his lap. “Where would we go?” The reach of the Pharaoh extended pretty far, and if Seti was successful in his campaign to liberate Kadesh, then nowhere would be a safe refuge for them. 

“We go to Punt. It is a favorable port…” Anck-Su-Namun tried again. She was reticent to leave Egypt, but she would if there was no other choice, then she would adapt and make do.

“Under Egyptian authority,” Imhotep interrupted. One misstep, one conversation with the wrong person and word would filter back to Thebes, back to Seti, and they would be hunted down. 

“We go East, to Babylon,” Anck-Su-Namun quickly responded. If they had to, they could continue as far East as the land allowed. 

“You would willingly live among people who do not speak our language?” Imhotep asked. He would vanish with her in a heartbeat, but only when they had a plan in place and a destination. They had to make sure that when they fled Egypt, all traces of their departure were covered. That meant laying the ground work well in advance.

“If it would allow us to raise this child together, freely, then yes,” Anck-Su-Namun stated fiercely. The maternal instinct had already taken hold of her, demanded that she take steps to protect her child. 

“A compromise then,” Imhotep suggested. “For this moment in our lives, we concentrate on the baby, seeing to it that it is delivered healthy and strong. We lose ourselves in our country, moving from city to city seeing a splendor that cannot found in Thebes, and I make plans to aide us in our escape.” Lightly, he rested his hand over where their child grew inside her.

“You swear we will leave?” Anck-Su-Namun asked, resting her hand over his. When he gave his word, he did everything in his power to keep it. 

“On my life,” Imhotep swore. He would do anything he had to just to ensure the life of the woman he loved and their unborn child, even if it took him down a dark path. 

 

SEVEN MONTHS LATER:

 

The days came and went as the lived their lives far from Thebes. Each day, under Imhotep’s watchful loving gaze, Anck-Su-Namun’s body changed. They were losing themselves in the day to day life of Bubastis; a place that worshipped Bastet. It was a town that appealed to Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep had never seen her so happy. Time was drawing near and soon their child would be brought into this world. For that, he wanted them close to home, yet protected in the desert. He would need his priests to be his eyes and ears when the time came. Joining their retinue, he had recruited a few more body guards as well as two nurses and a midwife. They made the journey on land while his brothers of the faith made use of the barge to return to Thebes and make preparations for their return. Anck-Su-Namun was carried on a liter by the four new guards. She argued, but Imhotep prevailed. 

Anck-Su-Namun could not shake the feeling of ill tidings coming for her and Imhotep. They had been deliriously happy for months. Not even the gods could abide this for long. She sensed they were sending disaster their way. Imhotep tried his best to ease her fears, but they would not be easily subdued. The vibrant life of the city gave way to towns scattered few and far between. Where it was green and lush, it was now arid and sand as far as the eye could see. As the miles shrank, Thebes drew closer and closer. 

Imhotep rode silently beside the liter. He had made all the plans he could that would ensure their escape. All of it hinged upon Seti staying away for another year. There was a part of his plan that he knew Anck-Su-Namun wouldn’t consent to. But it had to be done even as he hated to consider such a thing. Though, he could hold off on enacting that part for a little while longer. Soon enough, their first day was yielding to darkness, and they made camp just outside Giza. The ancient tombs of Pharaoh’s long since dead glowed in the fading light. From where they were encamped, they could see the hulking form of the Sphynx; crumbling under the ravages of time.

Anck-Su-Namun tried to get comfortable, but due to her size and the position of her child, she was finding this difficult. A groan from her drew Imhotep to her side. They had always had a way of silently communicating with each other. When she sat up, he situated himself behind her and pulled her slowly back against his chest. This time the noise she made was a sigh of contentment. “It is as if this child knows it’s time is drawing near,” she spoke softly. In a soothing manner, she ran her hands over her swollen belly, hoping the movement would lull their child into peace. A kick was her answer. She chuckled. 

Imhotep rested his hands where hers had been and their child stilled instantly. “Seems the babe prefers the calming touch of his father,” he teased. Then he began to move his left hand in a slow circle. 

“So, do I,” Anck-Su-Namun agreed as she too was lulled by his gentle movement. It had been on her mind since they set out that morning, so she asked, “We are not going back to the capital, are we?” It had been some time since they had talked about escaping the grip of the Pharaoh. When questioned, Imhotep simply asked that she lay her trust in him. In this she was content until the day drew closer for their child to come into this world. Now she wanted to know what he had planned.

“No,” Imhotep answered succinctly. Seti had planned for his death and for his burial. Even though his body would rest in the Valley of the Kings, he thought it prudent to have a few false tombs erected near Thebes. The oasis where they had spent their first night of freedom was a day’s ride from the first false tomb, but it was not to be a monument to Seti. Imhotep had designed another purpose for it. After he had started making plans for them to escape, he had drawn up plans and had them delivered into the hands of the tomb builders. By now the alterations had been made, and his priests had started adorning the stone walls to tell a different story and not one that glorified Seti or his reign.

“Is there more to that thought?” Anck-Su-Namun asked, angling her head back to stare up at him. To her eyes, his face had grown grim over these last few days of their travels. Hers must seem the same to him. They were heading home to uncertainty and danger. 

“Trust me, my love,” Imhotep whispered, kissing the top of her head. He held her close and let the feel of his body soothe her. They tried to revel in the quiet moments because before too long their life would be anything but.

The miles faded, and towns came and went. All too soon, Anck-Su-Namun began to recognize the landscape. It was as if she were returning to a golden prison. Rather than turn towards the city they headed deeper into the desert, to the oasis that had been their haven all those months ago. Imhotep stopped their journey long enough to rest the horses and the guards. He wanted to make it to their destination just as the sun rose. His persistence made her nervous. She barely recalled anything after arriving at the oasis. Her body was tired, and she slipped into the black oblivion of sleep.

While she slept, Imhotep set off, leaving orders with the guards to follow him after they’ve rested. His priests were already at the temple, making the final preparations he had devised. The stallion he rode ran full out through the cold desert night. Imhotep could feel the beast’s excitement at being given the freedom to run as hard as he wished. The distance between the oasis and the temple faded away and Imhotep saw the glow of torches. Padjet was waiting for him, his face betraying nothing. Imhotep envied the man his calm exterior. “Is everything ready?” he asked, dismounting his steed.

“It is,” Padjet replied. Many times, he had counseled Imhotep to use restraint in regard to Anck-Su-Namun, but it was clear his friend was already lost to her, suffering the most torturous emotion of all; love. All he could do was help where he could. 

“Show me,” Imhotep ordered. He could feel their time growing short, and not just the arrival of their child, but something darker looming on the horizon. Padjet led him into the temple. It was an open space, with pillars in the four corners to support the roof. He stopped in the center of the room looking to the left where he saw a side entrance, and the same when he looked to the right. Braziers were lit casting the carvings in shadows, seemingly making them dance. One half of the temple told the story of Imhotep’s rise to High Priest while the other half told Anck-Su-Namun’s story; how she was given to Seti and how she fell in love with Imhotep.

“My lord,” Padjet muttered, motioning for Imhotep to follow him. Walking towards the back, he strode down a corridor that led to a burial chamber with two raised stone altars. For now, it was set up as living quarters. But that was not what Imhotep wanted to see at the moment. Padjet removed the black key that was used to open the Book of the Dead and moved to the south wall. He crouched down to fit it into place. Turning it so the scarab faced the underworld, locks disengaged, and a section of the south wall pulled back, sliding open to reveal a secret passage; an escape tunnel leading through the sandstone mountain.

“You have exceeded my expectations,” Imhotep said.

“High praise indeed, my lord,” Padjet responded, bowing his head.

“It is well placed, my friend,” Imhotep said, resting his hand on Padjet’s shoulder. “And the other safeguard?” he asked. 

Padjet nodded. He went back to the entrance of the chamber and motioned to the carved pillar to the right side. He motioned to the top and said, “Press this and a thick slab of stone will cover the door giving you and Anck-Su-Namun time to escape.”

“Good,” Imhotep said with a single nod of his head. “Gods willing, we will not need it.”

“You may,” Padjet warned. “Reports from the battlefield say that Seti had been successful in liberating Kadesh. Soon, he and his army will be marching back to Thebes.”

“How much time do we have?” Imhotep asked, the first note of fear rising in his voice. It wasn’t just his life on the line anymore. 

“Six months,” Padjet answered. Then, to try and understand the recklessness that his friend had fallen into, he asked – and not for the first time, “Is this woman really worth courting the wrath of the Pharaoh?”

“She is carrying my child,” Imhotep answered. “I have loved her from the first moment our eyes touched,” he elaborated as he fiddled with the coiled serpent ring that adorned his right middle finger. 

“Then I pray you have smooth sailing in this course you have set for yourself and for her,” Padjet said in a sigh with a shake of his head.

“As do I, my friend,” Imhotep replied softly. 

 

AFTERNOON:

 

Anck-Su-Namun felt her jaw fall open. At one time this was a simple sandstone mountain stretching half of the horizon. Now, carved into the rockface was a temple as grand as any dedicated to a King or to the gods. Imhotep was there waiting for her. Even though it had been a short time they were apart, she felt his absence. Elation raced through her upon seeing his smiling face, but it soon dulled when she saw the joy did not reach his eyes. As soon as the liter was set on the ground, he came to her, helping her to stand. She greeted him by caressing the air above his face. He returned the gesture with both his hands and then his lips touched hers lightly. The moment was a fleeting one as he took her hand, guiding her up the stone steps. “What news from the capital?” she asked.

“Seti has conquered Kadesh,” Imhotep replied, tightening his hand on hers marginally. And before she could ask, he added, “Our time grows short, but I have a plan in place.” First, their child had to be born. He led her into the temple to show her what he had been working on for them. “This temple was meant to be an edifice glorifying Seti and all of his deeds, but these walls tell another story. Our story.” 

Anck-Su-Namun saw herself painted on the wall in finery befitting a Queen. “Is this how you see me?” she asked taking her hand from his, so she could go over to the section of wall where her image was. Lightly she touched it, tracing the painted white dress she wore. Love swelled her heart and light her eyes when she turned to look at him. “Why did you not tell me about this?”

“It was to be a surprise,” Imhotep answered softly. “Padjet has informed me that Seti will return to Thebes inside of six months. This place is now part of our escape to freedom.” He held out his hand to her, beckoning her to follow him. Leading her down the passage, he brought them to the burial chamber. He felt her hesitate just inside the entrance. “Do not be frightened.” 

“I am not afraid,” Anck-Su-Namun said defiantly and with a trace of a bite. She knew a tomb when she saw one. “Are we to die here?” she asked as she looked around the room. The stone altars in the center indicated that a pair of sarcophagi were going to be there for all of eternity, but the ornate bed set against the left wall told another story. 

“No,” Imhotep answered her. To show her just what this place was, he went to the back wall, set the key in the lock, and turned. The section of wall slid back and away to reveal the secret passage. He turned to her, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on a point on the floor. When he came around the altar, he saw a puddle on the floor, and she was holding her stomach. Rushing to the entrance he shouted, “FETCH THE MID-WIFE!”

The day turned to night on the heels of Anck-Su-Namun’s curses. She was in more pain than she had ever been in. Her body felt like it was being slowly split in two as her child slowly came into the world. Imhotep sat with her through it all, letting her squeeze his hand as tightly as she wanted, blame him for her pain, apologize for it all, and then go right back to cursing his name. He soothed her where he could and fell silent when she raged. Through it all, she barely heard what the mid-wife was telling her. 

Imhotep had lost all feeling in his fingers from the strength of Anck-Su-Namun’s grip. He would gladly allow her to break every bone in his hand if it helped ease the suffering by a fraction. He tried to think of things to say, but his words would not be helpful to her. Imhotep could only be with her and be here for whatever she needed, whether it be to yell at him or to reassure her that it would be over soon. Though his words were hollow, labor was known to last for longer than a day. 

“I want this to be over!” Anck-Su-Namun shouted, her voice echoing off the stone walls around them.

“I see the head. Push.” 

Anck-Su-Namun pushed.

 

EARLY MORNING:

 

It was near dawn before Imhotep held his son. Anck-Su-Namun was exhausted and needed rest. He gently took his child in his arms, staring down at the sweet newborns face. It was hard to describe what he was feeling in this moment in time. Pride. Joy. Love. All of that coupled with a fierce instinctual drive to protect his family. Holding his son now, he knew that when the time came, he would find it impossible to say goodbye. Anck-Su-Namun would hate him. But protecting their son had to come first. As much as it pained him, he would have to entrust the care of the baby to Padjet and the two nurses. 

“Where is he?” Anck-Su-Namun was fighting tooth and nail to stay awake, so she wouldn’t miss a moment with her baby. Opening her eyes by sheer force of will, she saw Imhotep holding their child and her heart nearly burst from all the love filling it. Father and son. Her family. She hadn’t known just how far she would go for her child until she held him in her arms for the first time.

“Right here, my love.” Imhotep sat down on the bed next to her, holding their son.

“What is it?” Anck-Su-Namun asked, worry creeping into her voice.

Imhotep could have lied to her, could have pretended for a little while that they could be a happy little family, but he had promised to always tell her the truth. “We have to put him into hiding,” he said watching his son sleep in his arms.

“We cannot…” Anck-Su-Namun hissed, careful to keep her voice down lest she wake the babe.

“He is not safe in our care at the moment,” Imhotep replied just as quietly. 

“He is our son,” Anck-Su-Namun said heatedly. 

“Which is why I am entrusting him to Padjet and the two nurses,” Imhotep replied. “They will spirit him away to Babylon, guard him until we can join him.”

Every instinct Anck-Su-Namun had screamed at her to argue, to fight, to make him see that they should all flee this very night, but she trusted the man she loved. She trusted that Imhotep had a plan that would see them to safety. If he failed, then she would have to make plans of her own. 

 

THREE THOUSAND YEARS LATER…

PRESENT: 

 

Tom woke to the pre-dawn light and a mixture of feelings. When they were spent from a night of love making, he fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, and the six months leading up to the murder of Seti. It was hard to put into words just what he was feeling. He witnessed the birth of Amun-Hotep, their son, and saw him put into hiding. Then came the rift between the two lovers. He watched it grow everyday they were separated from their child. Anck-Su-Namun grew distance with him s she fought to restore her body to that of the pristine temple Seti knew and worshiped in. All too soon, Seti and his army marched towards Thebes and the triumph parade happed and he was witnessing the murder all over again, but now he understood it. Anck-Su-Namun may not have wanted to kill Seti, but she had considered it. They had killed not to protect them, but their son. 

Tom looked to his left where he found Sun asleep on her side, peaceful and unaware. The cotton of the sheet had slipped down to cover her hips and he was drawn to her, compelled to caress her side with the back of his fingers. In sleep, she moaned, shifting closer to him. It was strange to think that his soul – Imhotep’s soul – had existed for so long just to find her. They had a love that stood the test of time and Tom was falling victim to it, willingly as he may be. He realized that this was how Imhotep felt before death came between them and kept coming between them. Leaning down, he whispered, “We won’t end like them.” Then, he kissed her cheek softly.

Tom was about to settle down, to continue watching her sleep, when something sharp struck him in the back of the neck. He had only a few seconds to realize it was a dart before everything went black.

 

TO BE CONTINUED….


	5. Chapter 5

YESTERDAY:  
THE PLANE:

 

Lyla sat on the pull-down steps of the private plane listening to Gavin mumble and grumble. It set her BS detector beeping. The man was stalling, and she couldn’t figure out why. Her brother was standing under the right wing, fooling around with his phone and making a disgruntled face. Getting off the steps, she moved away from the hatch and hissed, “Ben!”

“What?” Ben looked up from his phone. He’d been e-mailing a few of his other contacts, trying to get information on Gavin’s movements for the last ten months when he hadn’t been working on the jobs Ben had planned. 

“I think we have a problem,” Lyla said quietly as she crossed her arms over her chest. Ever since getting on the plane she had had this feeling that Gavin was betraying them, but without proof, she kept her suspicions to herself. 

“I know,” Ben replied just as quietly. He motioned with his head for Lyla to follow him towards the tail section of the plane. In the time it took to walk the short distance, Ben’s phone buzzed with an incoming e-mail. Pulling out the phone, he opened the message and found information he’d already suspected.

“What do you mean ‘you know’?” Lyla asked, careful to keep her voice down. She looked around to make sure Gavin hadn’t come out of the plane. So far, it seemed the man was keeping up his charade. He was pretending to run a few checks on the avionics. Lyla might not show it, but she was smarter than she looked, and she knew what trouble on a plane looked like. Gavin wasn’t having problems. Not yet, at least. 

“For the last few minutes I’ve been e-mailing various contacts to find out what Gavin had been up to. It would seem our honest smuggler has been seen in the company of several high-ranking Red Guard members. He’s been seen with Sarah as well.” Ben found the last part of the information hard to swallow. He knew Sarah hated Sun, but to go over to the enemy… That was something he thought not even she would consider.

“Sarah… that lunatic. We have to warn Sun,” Lyla stated. She would wait until later to freak out over the fact that Sarah had officially gone off the deep end. Right now, they all were in danger. 

Ben placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder and said, “Hold off on that for now.”

“Are you insane?” Lyla snapped. She knew her bother could be stupid, selfish, and even a bit stunted, but she’d never seen him as insane before. 

“The more information we have, the better we can help Sun. Besides, she is probably busy with Mr. Hawass. Do you want to be the one to interrupt her walk down memory lane?” Ben asked. 

“What exactly do you think we should do?” Lyla inquired in a huff. “I’m thinking we should remove limb after limb until Gavin tells us what he’s doing with Sarah, and then leave him to die in the desert.”

“Oh, baby sister,” Ben chuckled and said, “if there is killing to be done, then I will do it. Must keep those hands of yours as clean as possible.” Even though he taunted her, he was deeply serious about Lyla’s soul remaining as pure as it could get. She didn’t need the stain of murder blackening her heart. He’d already learned what it could do to a person.

“Think I’m afraid?” Lyla challenged. She was just as fierce as Ben and was capable of doing anything he could. Including pulling the trigger if need be.

“No,” Ben said, reaching his hand up to cup her cheek. “The guilt would kill you,” he answered honestly. Another reason why he and Sun had such a contentious relationship was because they had killed together. Once he freed her from the cell she’d been in, she had dispatched more than a few of the Chinese gangster’s holding her hostage. She blamed herself for it and she blamed Ben. 

Lyla had opened her mouth to reply when she looked over her brother’s shoulder and saw Gavin walking down the three awkward steps. Her response was to step on the toe of her brother’s boot.

*click*

“So, no warning then, I guess?” Ben asked when he heard the telltale click of a revolver hammer being pulled back. Gavin always liked his Old West six shooters. Being taken captive did provide them a chance at intelligence gathering, if his big mouth didn’t get him in trouble first. 

“I’m not that sporting,” Gavin responded. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stall the siblings for long, not after Sun set off with her man an hour ago. The money he’d been paid only covered keeping Lyla and Ben distracted. He hadn’t been compensated to do the same to Sun.

“No, you’re not,” Ben agreed. He held his sister’s gaze while he slowly lowered his hands. If he could get to the gun at his hip, then this would be a more even stand-off. 

“Don’t do it, Ben, not if you want Lyla to keep breathing,” Gavin warned. “I know you don’t care about your life, but hers…. You prize that above everything else.”

Lyla didn’t look the least bit afraid. She’d been threatened before and would be again before too much longer. Her hands were hidden, and it was her hand that slowly moved to the gun her brother always carried. She had wrapped her fingers around the grip when Ben made a little sound in his throat. It was signal to her to stop what she was doing. So, to Gavin she said defiantly, “You don’t frighten me.”

“I may not, but I’m sure the Red Guard would love to give it a go,” Gavin replied. Ben’s back stiffened, and Lyla’s eyes filled with fear. It gave him a little thrill of pleasure, but it was short lived.

“You leave now, Gavin.” Mustafa Khalid stepped into view, having spent the last hour skulking about the abandoned fort waiting for just this precise moment to reveal himself. He was one of three heads of the Red Guard. The other two were of no consequence given that they were dead because they refused to move against Sun O’Connell. 

“And the serpent finally reveals himself,” Ben said as he turned around. “Mustafa… I thought you died in the Sudan. Too bad…I’ll be sure to send you to the underworld personally.” He would do anything in his power to send the vile Khalid to his grave.

“And to think, we were once friends. Dear Benjamin, you could have had more than a scoundrel’s lifestyle,” Mustafa taunted. 

“At least I’m an honest crook. You’re just a back stabbing, low down, dirty piece of horse shit.” Ben stared down Mustafa, was so focused on giving the man the full weight of his hateful stare that he wasn’t paying attention when a dart imbedded itself in his arm. He swayed and then dropped to his knees. His vision had gone fuzzy, then the blackness was creeping in. Distantly, he heard his sister sling a litany of colorful insults at their captors before he finally fell to the ground. 

 

THE NEXT DAY:

 

Lyla always knew when it was best to fight and when it was best to surrender. When it had just been her and Ben against Gavin, she’d been prepared to fight. Khalid changed the equation; he had his lacky’s with him as back up. Once Ben was out for the count, she was by herself, and she wasn’t as brave as Sun would’ve been in that situation. So, she had to travel with her unconscious brother and gloating Red Guard across the desert. It had taken them all night, but when the first light of dawn started to creep over the horizon, she saw their destination. It was a temple built into a mountainous outcropping of sandstone. The sun rose higher and higher the closer they came to the temple. Lyla saw the first rays of light glinted off of something high up on the cliff. At least she thought she saw something. 

The Red Guard had already set up shop and it looked as if they’d been in this one location for weeks. Lyla saw them breaking down tents, moving equipment out of sight. The temple looked as if it had been newly erected, the adornments completed, and ready for worshipers. “Oh, my gods…” she whispered. It wasn’t the temple that made her react, it was the sight of Sarah talking with Khalid. Sarah had betrayed them completely and Sun had no idea. Her beloved cousin was out in the desert, distracted by the past, and without a vital piece of information that could keep her and Tom alive.

Lyla stretched out her leg, nudging her brother, trying to wake him up. He’d been unconscious since yesterday and now she was starting to worry. “Ben…” she hissed and kicked him again. Still he did not wake. If there was ever a time for one of her brother’s sarcastic remarks to make her feel better, now would be the time. More than that, she wanted her brother to be awake. At least she would have one ally with her to face off against Sarah and her Red Guard buddies.

High up on the ridge, Richard O’Connell was on his belly spying the activity down below. Next to him, Ja’Kal made notes in Arabic to pass along the small contingent of Medjai soldiers they had rallied in response to the Red Guard presence. He was about to pull back when he saw a group on camel back come into view. Tied up on two camels in the center of the caravan was Lyla and Ben. And then he noticed Sarah come out of one of the tents. His worst fears were realized. Sarah, his eldest, had finally taken that final step in forcing a confrontation with her sister. 

“Richard are you certain you want to continue watching?” Ja’Kal asked, his tone conveying his concern. The man was fierce in defense of his family and it was odd to him that he would choose this time to sit on the sidelines to watch his children clash.

“Sadly, I don’t have a choice. This is between Sarah and Sun,” Richard replied sadly. He wanted nothing more than to charge in and be the White Knight, but he couldn’t this time. 

“Then what should we do?” Ja’Kal inquired. Richard O’Connell was the only O’Connell to be made a Medjai at the request of his late father, Alex. Ja’Kal had known the deceased O’Connell since he was a small boy and had been delighted of fantastical tales of mummies rising from the grave. He knew a few of those stories from his own grandfather Adeth-Bay.

“Watch and wait for Sun to break the curse.” Richard sighed, and belly crawled away from the ledge where they had been concealed. When they were far enough away, he stood up to pick his way down the small path towards the back of the sandstone mountain. On the ground, to keep his mind busy, he set to work helping his brethren in clearing the mouth of the tunnel that had been carved three thousand years go.

“You may not want to hear this, my friend, but what if your youngest child perpetuates the curse and restores the dark powers Imhotep had to her young man?” Ja’Kal had always been the one to ask Richard the hard questions. It was one of the things that made their friendship strong; their ability to balance each other. 

“That’s not the Sun I raised,” Richard stated proudly. The child he raised had a remarkable capacity for forgiveness. Sun forgave Sarah for trying to kill her when they had been teenagers. From everything Richard hard read about Anck-Su-Namun – what information survived the test of time – she was a woman to nurture a grudge.

“The moment she came in contact with Imhotep’s reincarnation, nothing about her character became certain. Given the chance, she might just resurrect her long dead lover and reign darkness down on us all,” Ja’Kal pointed out.

“Sun will break the curse,” Richard responded. Then to end the conversation, he went back to work. They had to get the mouth of this tunnel open for when Sun made her move and beat Sarah once and for all.

Ja’Kal scoffed, “This is a dangerous game you’re playing, my friend.” He wasn’t ready to let this conversation end. 

Richard tossed a large sandstone rock. “Yeah, well, I didn’t start it.”

“But you’re certain Sun will end it?” Ja’Kal stood shoulder to shoulder with Richard and started moving rocks out of the way.

“I know she will,” Richard answered again, placing his hand over his heart. It was killing him, but a parent had to step aside to let their child realize their destiny. Sun’s was to finally end the curse and be with the man she loved. He was going to keep the faith in his daughter and know she won’t get pulled back into old drama.

 

AFTERNOON:

 

Consciousness rushed through Sun. She sat up, sucking down as much air as she could but something was covering her mouth. Frantically, she felt what it was and soon realized it was a mask. Pushing it up, she breathed a little easier and tried to clear her vision. The last thing she remembered was making love with Tom, falling into a deep sleep to dream of the past. A lot of missing pieces fell into place while she slept. Their nine months of happiness. The birth of Amun-Hotep. Their plan to run away. She even dreamed of Anck-Su-Namun forming her own plan should Imhotep’s be derailed. And it had been. In dreams, she relived the murder of Seti and her suicide.

After a few minutes, Sun felt calmer, and better able to assess her situation. Looking down, the first thing she noticed was that her clothes were different and that she recognized them. They were from the fight between Anck-Su-Namun and Nefertiri. Next, she realized she was in half of a sarcophagus. The sick feeling came over her and she vaulted over the edge. Sun did a full body shake to dispel the heebie-jeebies she had. It was then she finally realized where she was. Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep’s tomb. “Oh, my gods…”

The sarcophagus she’d been in wasn’t the only one. The second altar wasn’t empty. “No, no, no…” She rushed around the altar, looking inside the half of casket to find Tom. His chest was rising and falling, telling her he was still alive. He was dressed differently to match how Imhotep had appeared during that fateful fight. But the mask was not from that day. It was black and made to fit his face securely. She had just reached out her hands to take it from him, when he sat up, breathing in so harshly that he made a strange noise. Her heart leapt into her throat, but she didn’t scream. 

Tom clawed at his face, trying to get whatever it was that covered his skin off of him. Hands touched his and through the eye holes he saw Sun. The sight of her calmed him a fraction, enough to ask, “What happened?” She didn’t look like herself. Gold paint covered her lips, black outlined her eyes, and she wore clothes that he’d only dreamt of. Ripping the mask off, he looked around, and felt that he was going to be sick. He was sitting in a coffin. He was up and out of there so fast he knocked Sun back more than a few paces. 

“I don’t know,” Sun answered, recovering her balance. She understood his panic, as she had been through it only moment before. “I went to bed with you last night and woke up here. Do you know what happened?” she asked. Sun hoped that he at least knew how they got here. She had an inkling as to why they were wearing strange clothes, but until she knew for certain she was going to keep it to herself. 

Tom’s hand went to the back of his neck. “I think we were drugged this morning, if it’s even still the same day. Kind of hard to know without my phone.” He looked at himself and felt awkward. It was weird to be dressed like a man who had been dead for three thousand years. Stranger still, to see her like that as well. His heart skipped a beat looking at her like that. “Where are we…?” he asked even as the answer formed in his mind. “The tomb.” 

Sun went to him, her hands immediately going to his face. “Are you okay?” she asked trying to keep the stress from her voice. He had already had so much happen to him just by meeting her, he didn’t need to react to her being anxious as well. 

“I’m confused as to why we’re in a tomb… this tomb,” Tom hissed even as he placed his hands on her hips. He had to be touching her, to draw on her strength to help him calm down. His eyes drifted over to the far side and his mind conjured a bed, shadowy figures of Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, and echoes of her screaming. A light as a whisper he said, “This is where he was born.”

Sun knew the ‘he’ Tom was referring to. Amun-Hotep. Their son. She looked in the same direction and saw what Tom had to be seeing. It was hard to see fractions of the past and not be affected by it. And it was hard not to feel as if her whole life had been leading to this exact moment, for her to learn who she was, to learn who they were together. “They never got to see him grow up,” she said sadly, tears filling her eyes. Deep in her heart, she felt the loss of a child she never carried, never gave birth to, and never sent into hiding. That choice was one in the sequence of events that led to them turning to a dark path.

Leaving her side, Tom crossed the room, moving away from the stone altars and towards the shadows of the past. He felt that if he reached out towards them, he could almost touch them. The slice of history he was witnessing was a moment so pure, so perfect, and filled with so much happiness that he couldn’t help but feel the same. Tom could just make out the face of Imhotep’s baby boy. If he breathed wrong, would he scatter the particles that had reformed to show them this moment? Tom didn’t want to risk it, so he held his breath. He wanted to watch them for as long as he could, to remember the overwhelming happiness that filled Imhotep the moment he saw his son for the first time.

Sun stayed where she was, watching the scene play out before them; the happy family. And that’s what Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had been. Happy. If only for a short span of time. Her eyes tracked to the opening of the tomb. There was something there tugging at her memory, but she couldn’t make it solid enough to recall what it was she was trying to remember. She took a step closer to it but froze almost immediately. Her warrior’s sense was telling her there was danger just beyond that open door. The side of her that liked danger, that thrived on conflict, dared her to force a confrontation. She fought against that voice for Tom’s sake. If she had been alone, it would have been a different story.

The seconds of memory that played out before Tom’s eyes finally vanished. He was left feeling cold and hollowed out. Imhotep hadn’t been only motivated by love, but for the sake of his new family. In the face of protecting that was his, Imhotep had put murder on the table, but only as a last resort. And it had been that last resort that cursed him. Tom stood up and fiddled with the bracers on his arms. He didn’t want to be wearing these clothes. He wanted to shut the door on the past and let old ghosts rest in peace. To do that, he knew he needed to stand side by side with Sun. When he looked at her, he saw past and present merging. He saw her as Anck-Su-Namun and as Sun. “Is this your sister setting the stage?” Tom asked.

“It is,” Sun replied with a small sigh. “Sarah has always had a bit of a dramatic streak.” She said that for two reasons. One: because it was true. Two: she wanted her voice to carry and draw her sister out. Sarah had to be lurking somewhere close, waiting for them to wake up. Sun was still unsure as to how they arrived at the temple and the only thing she could think of was that her older sister had hired mercenaries to do the heavy lifting. After a few minutes, no one appeared leaving Sun to hiss, “Damn, I thought that would work.” When they had been kids, it had been much easier to provoke her into a rage. Guess growing up had taught her restraint, just as it taught patience to Sun.

Tom couldn’t help but chuckle. “You wanted to make her mad,” he said knowingly, even though he didn’t have any siblings. He’d seen the tactic up close with his cousins. Going to her, he took her hand, and laced their fingers together. It was as much for her as it was for him. When he was holding her hand, he felt better, more grounded in the present. She was his anchor. 

“We might’ve woken up too early,” Sun mused. “Sedatives are tricky with anyone. There’s body weight and metabolism to take into account…And I’m rambling.”

“I like it,” Tom replied softly. There was nothing about Sun that he didn’t like. 

“It’s hard being here,” Sun said, drastically changing their conversation. “I look at you and see him and I can’t help but love you more than I did a minute ago.” There, she said it. Gazing at him now, the world fell away. It didn’t matter that they were in a tomb. It didn’t matter that he was dressed to resemble Imhotep on the fateful day that Nefertiri had seen them share a lingering gaze after Seti made the announcement he intended to marry Anck-Su-Namun.

Tom’s heart stopped at her words. “I see her when I look at you too,” he confessed softly, barely able to speak through the emotions rising up inside him. “When I stare into your eyes, I love you more than I did a minute ago.” 

Knowing his preference, Sun lifted her hand and caressed the air above his face. “I can’t imagine not being in love with you in this or any life,” she whispered. Despite the craziness she’d brought into his life, she knew it wouldn’t drive him away. 

As Tom completed their gesture of love he whispered, “Last night, our souls became one and I knew that we were meant to be.” During their love making, he felt part of his soul enter her, part of her merge with him, metaphysically linking them, and he knew that Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had had the same thing happen to them.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to get us out of this,” Sun promised. 

 

MAIN TEMPLE:

 

Sarah O’Connell checked her pocket watch. Her detestable little sister and her vile lover were still in the grips of sleep induced by the sedative. This gave her time to study the painted carvings that were perfectly preserved against the harsh hand of time. From the murals she was able to discern the story of Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep. It made her hate for Sun burn even hotter. Sarah had the urge to destroy this place, to wipe away every trace of the lovers. If she did that, the side of her that wanted to preserve history balked at her hateful impulse. So, she was of two minds as she stood in this place. 

Sarah spied the numerous Red Guard scholars that flited about. Some of them studied the writings, others made notes, and others took numerous video and pictures to keep a record of the history. To them, this would be a chance to raise Imhotep from the grave, to conquer the world with his dark powers. She was here to kill her sister. Once the cursed soul of Imhotep was resurrected, he would bring his love back from the grave. 

Moving through the temple, Sarah came to the altar where two books waited. The book of the dead. The book of the living. It had taken some doing on her part, but she managed to retrace her Grandpa Alex’s steps when he had been taken prisoner by the Red Guard as a child. Two years of painstaking excavation and the great pyramid of Ahm Shere was once more revealed minus the fabled diamond on top. The moment she had been inside the pyramid, she felt nothing. No flood of memories. Nothing. That only fueled her rage at her sister.

Even when they were little, Sun got all the attention Sarah had longed for. Grandpa Alex told Sun all of his stories, but never to her. It was always the little Egyptian orphan that got everything. She pulled out her pocket watch again, checking the time. By now, Sun should be awake. Sarah picked up the book of the dead and carried it with her down the hall towards the tomb. As she drew closer to the entrance, she could hear them speaking. It set her teeth grinding.

From inside the tomb, Sun could hear the telltale click of shoes on stone coming closer to them. Taking Tom’s hand, she pulled him back towards the stone altars, and stood slightly in front of him. She couldn’t be sure if it was Sarah coming towards them or one of her mercenaries. Either way, she was going to use every skill she had – even the more lethal ones – to make sure they both got out of this tomb alive. Though, if she had to fight, it was going to be hard to do without a weapon.

Sarah stood in the opening of the burial chamber absolutely disgusted by the sight of Sun standing in front of the reincarnation of Imhotep. “The sight of the two of you make me sick.” She stepped into the light. Sun’s face betrayed nothing of what she was feeling and neither did her eyes. 

“Your fight is with me, Sarah, not Tom,” Sun pleaded. “He’s an innocent man.” She had to try appealing to her sister first, before she resorted to trickery and mind games. For that, she would have to keep Tom in the dark as to her true motives. Sun only had one shot of getting the situation to turn to her advantage.

“He’s Imhotep reincarnated. It was only a matter of time before you two crossed paths and perpetuated the curse of your evil love.” Sarah clutched the book of the dead, making sure Sun saw it. Still, no reaction. 

“The only evil in this room is you,” Tom snapped. Sun’s hand tightening on his kept him from raging further. He hoped she had a plan because things were looking bleak for them at the moment. 

“Wishing you had your powers right about now, huh?” Sarah asked, looking at the current face of Imhotep. She knew the man’s modern name; Tom Hawass. But it made little difference to her.

“Sarah, look at me,” Sun said, moving until she made eye contact with her sister. “You can still stop this. It’s not too late.” This time, she let her sister see a slight crack in her strong veneer, let her see the first misting of tears in her eyes.

“You want to spare him any undue stress?” Sarah asked, making direct eye contact with Sun. 

“He doesn’t deserve this. I’m the one you hate. Punish me, if you must, but let him go…” Sun spoke through the rising of more tears that made her voice break.

“Then resurrect Imhotep and he’s free to go,” Sarah said, holding out the book. The key was already in place. 

This was the tricky part. Sun had to be convincing enough to lull her sister into a false sense of victory while getting Sarah to do exactly as she wanted. Leaving Tom, she crossed the distance between her and Sarah and took the book. She let her sister see the beginnings of defeat in her eyes. “Have you considered that this might not work?” she asked. There was a strange energy pouring off the cold onyx book. 

“It’ll work. Your Egyptian was always better than mine and the book won’t open for me,” Sarah said blithely. 

Sun backed away, turning to face Tom. She knew Sarah wouldn’t stab her in the back; she wasn’t that far gone. Thankfully. Tom looked afraid, but he was trying to hide it. This was where a bit of theater came into play and a bit of role reversal. Sun said in their first language, “It’s our destiny.” She was close enough to him that he could grab the book from her.

A sudden burst of defiance raced through Tom. He ripped the book from her hands, turning, slamming it down on the corner of the altar where his half of coffin rested. “No!” Facing her again, he pulled her close and whispered in the same mother tongue, “I will not lose you again.”

Sun burst into tears, throwing her arms around Tom’s neck. She was putting on a grand show for the benefit of her sister. But she was also doing this for them. If she had read from the book, if she had brought back Imhotep, then she was only going to be proving Sarah right. This curse started because they had been willing to kill. Not this time. The cycle stopped with her and with Tom. Keeping her arms around Tom’s neck, she looked at her sister and said, “You’ll have to seal us in here because I won’t do it. I won’t be the monster you think I am!”

Tom held her close. He tried to conceal the trembling in his body, but he was afraid this situation had taken a turn outside of Sun’s control. It didn’t stop him from trusting her, from following her lead. She had a plan, he had to believe that, even though at the moment it was getting hard to keep faith in her. They had a choice before them. They could walk familiar roads, or they could take a path that led them to a new future. It could be one where they were together. “I will die before being used in some vile scheme you have cooked up,” he added his refusal to Sun’s. 

Sun looked at him, holding his gaze as she said, “I’m so sorry baby. I thought I could get us out of this, but…” She let her tears fall again, harder this time. Her performance had to be impeccable. 

“You did everything you could. I got to love you in this life, and I’ll love you in the next,” Tom said softly. He pulled her back in against his chest to hold her next to his heart. 

“I thought that might be your answer,” Sarah said, sighing dramatically. “If that is your wish, then I will grant it. Finally, this place will be used as it was intended.” Over her shoulder, she called out, “Seal them in.” Sarah backed out into the corridor seconds before a thick stone slab covered the burial chamber. The last thing she heard was Sun calling out to her.

“Was that really the wisest move you could have made?” Mustafa asked after the dust settled. 

“Sun hates dark confined spaces. Avery locked her in a tool shed once, leaving her there all weekend while our parents were away. Give it an hour and she’ll be begging to do what we want.” The stone slab was thick enough to muffle the sound of normal voices. Screaming, however, would be heard. 

“She’s your sister,” Mustafa commented. 

“Unfortunately,” Sarah replied with a roll of her eyes. 

Back inside, once the stone slammed into place, Sun pulled back from Tom and wiped away her tears. “That took longer than I thought it would.” Before Tom could bombard her with questions, she covered his mouth, silently telling him that whatever he had to ask, he had to do so quietly. 

“I’m confused…” Tom said the moment Sun took her hand away from his mouth. He made sure to follow her non verbal instructions. They were trapped in a burial chamber with torches that were going to eat up most of the oxygen in the room. The only way out was through an entrance that was no covered by a stone slab. His brain snagged on that last assessment though. Were they truly trapped through? Tom looked around the chamber again. What was it he wasn’t seeing? 

“I had to make it look good,” Sun said. “I took some drama classes at University,” she added. Neural linguistic programming was a trick Sun had picked up from a grifter. It was all about using key phrases or words to get a mark to do a specific thing. In this case, Sun wanted Sarah to lock them inside the tomb. It was the only way they could escape.

“Why did you want her to seal us in?” Tom asked, momentarily abandoning his visual search of the chamber to make eye contact with her. When she shrugged, he went back to what he was going. This place held more secrets than his mind was willing to reveal. So, he had to push his memory to cooperate.

“Once when I was eight, Avery locked me in a tool shed for a whole weekend. He thought it was funny, but after that, I was less fond of small, dark places. Sarah has made the mistake in thinking that this will break me. Years ago, I conquered my fear, and it doesn’t control me anymore,” Sun explained softly. She had never let Sarah or Avery’s cruelty define her as a person. She made herself rise above it and be a better person than they ever were. 

Tom stopped looking around the tomb and gave his attention to her. “My gods, Sun…” He took her in his arms and held her close. They were so wrapped up in their ancient past that he stopped asking about her modern past. She had siblings that hated her, yet, somehow, she managed to be a kind person. “When we get out of this, you’re going to have to tell me everything about your modern life,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

Sun took a moment, hugging him tightly. She nodded, her cheek rubbing against his bare chest and then said softly, “I will tell you everything after we get out of here.” They held each other for a few more seconds and then pulled apart. “I need you to get us out of here,” she said letting him here the urgency in her tone. “I need you.”

Tom nodded and then returned to studying the tomb. His eyes hit on a section of the back wall. There was something there. Leaving Sun, he went to the spot of the back wall, but in the low light of the torches, he didn’t see anything. He backed away with a sigh, but then something towards the floor caught his attention. It was an indentation that matched the puzzle box. “Sun, do you still have the box?”

Sun grabbed the box her sister called a ‘key’ and brought it over to him. Without a word, he took it, and fit it into place. At the same time, they chuckled in surprise. “It is a key,” she whispered, crouching down next to him. It wasn’t over, though. He turned it until the winged scarab was upside down, pointing towards the Underworld. Mechanism’s groaned and stone scraped against stone. The section of wall they had unlocked slid back to reveal a tunnel. “You did it. You saved us,” Sun said and kissed his cheek. The burst of air doused the torches, plunging them into darkness. Seconds later, eerie blue light filled the chamber. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…


	6. Chapter 6

Tom had taken one step into the dark tunnel feeling freedom within their grasp. He thought of nothing else, except getting himself and Sun to safety. At least he tried. She was tugging on his hand, urging him to turn around. “What is…?” he asked, looking back at her over his shoulder. It wasn’t Sun that gained his attention, it was the eerie blue light filling the burial chamber. He’d never seen anything like it in this or his previous life. The light soon turned into a swirling vortex with two figures emerging.   
  
Sun wouldn’t be able to accurately describe what it was she was seeing at this moment. The figures coming out of the blue – for lack of a better term – puddle were male and female. And they were familiar somehow. As they came closer more of their features were revealed. Sun nearly stopped breathing. She was staring at her first incarnation; the true Anck-Su-Namun. She looked exactly as she had when she’d taken her life. That made the man next to her Imhotep. “Oh, my gods…” she said, exhaling slowly. The light died down and the torches sparked to life once more. Was she actually seeing this?  
  
“We’re seeing this at the same time, right?” Tom asked, tugging on her hand lightly. He was face to with his first self, the man who’d been cursed for loving a woman and for murdering the Pharaoh. It was haunting to see a three-thousand-year-old version of himself. They could pass for identical twins.  
  
“I think we are,” Sun responded. She couldn’t help but stare at Anck-Su-Namun. It was like looking in a mirror that reached back three thousand years. Though, Anck-Su-Namun was slightly darker than she was. “How is this possible?” she asked, taking a few steps closer.  
  
“You did what we could not,” Imhotep spoke, drawing the gaze of his modern love.   
  
“The tunnel…” Tom muttered. “You were supposed to run.” He wasn’t sure if he meant that lost comment incredulously or not.  “Why didn’t you leave?!” he snapped, the anger rising up inside him.  
  
“It was not easy,” Anck-Su-Namun spoke, addressing the future version of her lover. “Our lives were not simple…”  
  
“We know,” Sun replied.  
  
“You may know, but do you understand?” Imhotep asked.  
  
“We remember,” Tom added. He clenched his teeth, trying to get a stranglehold on his anger. I they had just fled, he never would have met Sun. And with that single thought, he sighed, completely deflated and the age vanished.  
  
“To know is to remember, to understand you had to have lived our lives,” Anck-Su-Namun said sharply. “You get to have better than we did. You get to be together in a way we never would have been allowed.”  
  
Imhotep placed his hand on her painted shoulder, no longer fearful if they were seen. He rubbed his thumb back and forth along her skin hoping to sooth her. In the afterlife, Osiris had taken pity on them and allowed them this one reprieve so that they might speak with their reincarnations. Already the course of their lives was going to be different.  
  
“You were afraid of Seti, weren’t you?” Sun asked. Underneath it all, she could feel the icy grip of it still clinging to her soul and lingering in the ghostly eyes of Anck-Su-Namun. Not even death had stripped them of that fear.  
  
“It does not matter now,” Anck-Su-Namun said softly. In her eyes, though, she answered honestly. Yes, she had been afraid of the Pharaoh. Everyone had been.  
  
“You broke the curse hanging over our souls. By choosing to flee you changed everything,” Imhotep added. There was one final thing they needed from their reincarnations and it would be the hardest thing he would ever ask.  
  
Sun stared into Imhotep’s eyes, seeing what it was that he needed for himself and for his lover. Tears sprang welled up, clouding her vision. She touched Tom’s hand and then went to stand in front of the High Priest. Tom stood beside her, facing Anck-Su-Namun. In Imhotep’s eyes, she could see he saw her as he saw his lover; the same woman. Lifting her hand, she said, “I loved you so much in our first life.”  
  
Tom moved his hands over Anck-Su-Namun’s face and whispered, “You were every single beat of my heart, the breath in my lungs, and the missing half of my soul.” He leaned in closer, pressing his forehead to hers, breathing in. So long as he lived, he silently vowed to always remember what they sacrificed for their family and to always love Sun no matter what. “Be at peace and rise no more,” he spoke with conviction.  
  
Sun stared into Imhotep’s eyes and said, “We release you.” Imhotep kissed her as his form faded away like sand being carried away on the wind. She lifted her hand to her heart and whimpered. It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did to say goodbye to him. Essentially, he was a stranger, but her heart told her differently.  
  
Tom kissed Anck-Su-Namun’s brow seconds before she too faded to nothing. With her the blue light died and he was left feeling cold inside. Blindly reaching back, he felt for Sun’s hand. He needed to feel the warmth of her running through him, bringing him back to life. The minute their skin touched, the cold was chased away, and he could breathe normally. His soul was no longer being crushed under the weight of monumental grief. “We should leave while we can,” he said.  
  
“Agreed,” Sun replied, squeezing his hand moments before letting him go. She went back to the stone altar and retrieved the book of the dead. It wouldn’t do too well to leave it behind for Sarah to reclaim it. Like before, the power that resided in the mystical tome bled into her hands, slithering up her arms. It called to her, wanting her protection, and she would give it.   
  
Tom was already standing in the mouth of the tunnel when Sun joined him, carrying the book. “You’re not bringing that thing with us, are you?” He could feel the pull to open the book, to read the words inscribed on the black pages. The book of the dead had, at one time, been enshrined in the city of Hamunaptra, and he had been its keeper. Having that tome anywhere near him would be a monumental temptation.  
  
“I’m not leaving it here,” Sun shot back, mindful of how loud she spoke.   
  
“That’s exactly what you should do,” Tom replied, his voice also low.   
  
“I can’t. If we leave it here, then it could fall back into my sister’s hands, or someone worse,” Sun argued. Sarah couldn’t have pulled all this off by herself, or even with the help of mercenaries. She had to have someone else backing her plays. But who?  
  
Tom growled but made no further arguments in favor of leaving the book behind. He motioned for her to follow him as he led the way into the tunnel. Before leaving, he retrieved the key and they were ready to escape. The moment they moved away from the entrance, the stone slab closed, plunging them into darkness. “Least we can only go forward,” Tom said.  
  
“Provided the tunnel isn’t blocked and we don’t suffocate…” Sun said sarcastically. The burial chamber might not have made her panic, but the tunnel was doing its job. Seeing her first incarnation had sapped her of her normal steely resolve.   
  
In the dark, Tom found her hand and held it tightly. “We’ll move as fast as we can,” he promised. Then, keeping his hand in hers, he guided her down the corridor towards the exit. Silently, he hoped that her fears were unfounded and that he hadn’t just sealed them in. His fear wasn’t the dark, or the confined space. He was concerned about spiders. It wasn’t that he hated the fury eight-legged little creatures, but if he had a blowtorch, he wouldn’t hesitate to burn them alive.  
  
As they walked, Sun felt her heart beating faster and faster. The panic was trying to get the best of her, but she wouldn’t let it win. If she could keep it together in the tomb, then she could sure as well handle this tunnel. Just when she thought she couldn’t take another step; she saw a sliver of light appear. Hope swelled up inside her. They were nearing the end with fresh air and wide-open space waiting for them.  
  
Tom kept going towards the light. If things weren’t so serious for them at the moment, he might make a joke about tunnels and light. Though, in present company, he thought it bet to say nothing. Sun had a death grip on his hand, telling him that she was nearly at the limit of what she could take. “Not much farther now,” he said in a comforting tone.   
  
Sun breathed out a shaky breath and nodded. Belatedly, she realized, he couldn’t see her. “Good,” she said. Silently, she wished him to pick up the pace.   
  
Tom lengthened his strides, picking up the pace he could sense she wanted from him. Though, honestly, he was ready to be out of the escape tunnel as well. It was a reminder of what could have been. Before too long, they came to the mouth, but it was blocked by debris. He could hear the sound of workers. “Hello! Can anyone hear us?!” he shouted and prayed to whatever gods were listening that it wasn’t the lunatics that had captured them.  
  
Outside the entrance, Richard heard faint calls for help. The voice – he hoped – belonged to Sun’s gentleman; Tom Hawass. He signaled his people to stop and move out of the way to allow him to get close to the hole they’d made. “Sun!”  
  
“ _Daddy_!”   
  
Richard breathed a sigh of relief. He could hear the panic in her voice. As much work as she’d put in overcoming her claustrophobia, she still hadn’t defeated it. “Baby, we’re coming to get you.”  
  
“Put your backs into it, men!” Ja’Kal shouted. He got everyone, including himself and Richard, back to it. The smaller broken pieces fell out of the way as the larger rocks were pulled away. Steadily, the opening got bigger and bigger.  
  
Inside the tunnel, Tom pulled Sun in front of him. The hole was large enough for her to squeeze through. “Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” She didn’t argue, she didn’t try to be brave and say she could wait. She handed him the book and crawled through the opening.  
  
Tom curled his fingers around the metal spine of the book while he waited for his turn. A few more seconds and he started to make his way to freedom. The small sharp stones bit into the skin of his knees, cutting him, but still he kept going until hands were reaching for him, helping to pull him out into the daylight. He was momentarily blinded by the light when Sun was back in his arms, holding him tight. “I’m okay…” he said, closing his eyes, and holding her tightly in return.  
  
Richard saw the embrace and knew his daughter had found the right man to be with. Of course, he wasn’t going to let the man get away without being hazed. It was his fatherly duty, after all. But he could restrain himself long enough to deal with the problem at hand. Sarah. “We don’t have time for this,” he said in his best clipped fatherly tone.   
  
Sun pulled back from the safety and security of Tom’s arms, so she could stare down her father. “We’re going to make the time. What are you doing here and with Medjai in tow?” You’re supposed to be with mom, at the hospital, with Avery.”   
  
“You’re supposed to be in Paris, where I told you to remain,” Richard replied heatedly.  
  
“Guess we both excel at not listening,” Sun fired back and put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“Rescuing you,” Richard answered. “A thank you is in order.”   
  
Sun grit her teeth and then begrudgingly said, “Thank you.” After that, all the fight and posturing went right out of her. She went to her father, tears filling her eyes as she said, “Daddy, Sarah’s finally lost it. She paid some thugs to drug us, haul us halfway across the desert, and dress us up to fit some deranged fantasy of hers.”   
  
“She didn’t pay anyone,” Ja’Kal said, gaining the attention of his God-Daughter.  
  
Sun pegged Ja’Kal with a suspicious stare and said, “I don’t like the way you said that, uncle.”  
  
“He’s your uncle?” Tom asked in a whisper.  
  
“Yeah, like a family friend type uncle,” Sun replied quickly. Then to Ja’Kal she asked, “Then who’s working with her if she didn’t pay anyone?” She hoped to high heaven that it wasn’t who she was thinking of, because if it was, then they were in very serious trouble.   
  
Tom watched silently, knowing he had nothing to contribute to the conversation. It was best to watch and wait for Sun to find out what she needed to know, then, and only then, would they plan their next course of action. He looked at the book in his hands and wondered, if only for a moment, what powers it could bestow upon him. Tom had not only the memories of Imhotep before death, but the ones from his time as a resurrected cursed corpse. He could remember having powers and for an instant he wanted them back, if only to help Sun. Except, he knew that if he gave into that want, there would be no comping back and he would end up as Imhotep had been. He wouldn’t risk that kind of darkness infecting him.  
  
“Your sister has formed an alliance with the Red Guard,” Richard explained sadly. Everyone in the O’Connell/Carnahan family knew that the Red Guard was their enemy. To make an alliance with them was tantamount to signing their own death warrant.   
  
Sun scoffed. “She’s lost what’s left of her ever lovin mind!” She tried to believe that there was still some goodness left in her sister, but this… No, this was too much. As far as she was concerned, there was no redemption for Sarah. Sun wanted to hate her, but it was Sarah’s illness that was partly responsible. When the oldest O’Connell child was medicated, she still had moments delusions would take hold of her. Normally, her meds would be altered, and she would go back to be her usual hateful self. What Sun saw in the tomb, that was a new level. She seemed medicated, but only enough to keep the worst of her symptoms at bay.  
  
“What does that mean?” Tom asked, not sure he understood the implications.  
  
“It means the Red Guard that had been following us in New York were there following Sarah’s orders,” Sun surmised, looking at Tom with heartfelt apology in her eyes. She still felt terrible for drawing him into her family’s crazy world.  
  
“Either hers or Mustafa Khalid’s,” Ja’Kal added.   
  
“What does Khalid have to do with it? He’s low man on the totem pole,” Sun said snidely. The last time she had even heard Khalid’s name had been from Ben’s lips, when her cousin was cursing the man’s name for betraying him.   
  
“Not anymore,” Richard informed. “He killed the top members and has taken control of the Guard.”  
  
“Shit…” Sun drew the word out. “Lyla and Ben… they don’t know…” She had all but forget about her cousins. “Where are Lyla and Ben? They should have been here by now?”  
  
“Sarah has them,” Richard told his daughter.  
  
Sun had never wanted to punch Sarah before this moment. “We have to do something! I have to do something to get them out of there!” She whirled around and was determined to take on the contingent of Red Guard soldiers all by herself. The haze of hatred cleared from her eyes when Tom touched her arms. “I have to get Lyla out of there. She’s only here because of me!”   
  
“Sweetheart, we already have a plan in place,” Richard said, soothingly. He hoped his words would placate his daughter enough so that she would stay safe and not charge heard first into danger like he knew she wanted to do. “Many of the men encamped with Khalid and your sister are Medjai undercover as Red Guard. We’re poised to take the camp, but we had to wait until you and your man were safely out of harm’s way.”  
  
“Then, what are you waiting for?” Sun scoffed. “We’re here now, safe and sound, go get them.”  
  
Ja’Kal tried to hide his laughter under a cough. Sun was bossy when she wanted to be; she’d learned it from Richard. “We’re ten minutes away from rescuing them.”   
  
“Go in now,” Sun said sharply.  
  
“Now it is,” Richard said and then nodded to another Medjai soldier. The man in turn pulled out a flare gun and fired the signal to begin the attack. Moments later, there was gunfire off in the distance.   
  
It took everything Sun had not find a way to join the fray. She had to trust her father and her uncle had things well in hand and that her cousins were going to be rescued. To dispel the nervous energy, she had she started to pace back and forth. She would have made a lousy battlefield commander. Moments later, the action died down, and another red flare lit the sky. It was over. When she looked at Tom to see how he was feeling, she saw him staring intently at the book, the key already in place to unlock it. Immediately, she took it from him, and shoved it into the hands of the nearest man she could. “Take this and get it away from us,” she snapped.  
  
Tom was snapped out of the trance he unwittingly had fallen into. “That thing has got some powerful mojo attached to it,” he said, his voice cracking. “Best to keep it out of our hands.”   
  
Sun stepped in close to him, her hands going to his face, and she said, “I know… I felt it too.” It wasn’t hard to imagine Imhotep with the book in his hands, reading the spells contained within its pages. She remembered what it was like to listen to him recite the spell that had shown her the past; but she had been a different person. Back then she had been Meela Nias, raised by the Red Guard.   
  
“For the first time in my life, I am honestly ready to leave Egypt,” Tom said with a sigh as he pressed his forehead to hers. It had been such a whirlwind adventure since they’d met on the street just a few days ago. Four days they had been together, but it felt like a whole lifetime.  
  
“Where would you want to go?” Sun asked, taking a step back. She had places to live all over the world. Anywhere would suit her, because, like him, she was ready to leave Egypt behind. For a while, at least. She learned all she needed to from this land, what secrets it held about her past life and her past love.   
  
“Anywhere,” Tom replied, chuckling lightly.  
  
“I can do anywhere,” Sun answered, giggling lightly, tiredly. 

  
  
****

  
  
On the other side of the sandstone outcropping, the Red Guard soldiers that had been captured were being tied up. Inside the temple, Richard looked down at his eldest daughter. She had been rendered unconscious during the attack, either by her attempts to flee to safety, or by Khalid – who was now dead. He was going to do what he should have done in the first place. Sarah needed to be in a secure facility with doctors and with medication. After his wife had gone to the hospital in Cairo, he’d made arrangements to get Sarah into the hands of professionals in an institution based in Switzerland.   
  
Richard would hand her over to Ja’Kal and two others. His friend would then transport her to the facility. It was better if he was no longer involved. Richard already had one child in the hospital, narrowly escaping death while his youngest had faced the hardest test ever given to her. His family had suffered enough. Kneeling down next to her, he caressed her cheek and said his goodbyes. This could be the last time he would ever see her.  
  
Ja’Kal watched his friend, not knowing the amount of pain Richard was in. How could he? In an effort to sooth the man’s heartache, he said, “I’ll take care of her and get her safely to the hospital.”  
  
“I know you will, my friend,” Richard said, sniffling. “It doesn’t make it easier though.”  
  
“Go to Luxor,” Ja’Kal said softly, putting his hand on Richard’s shoulder. “Your daughter, niece, nephew, and the stranger are all headed there now. Go, be with your family, and leave this mess for me. I will deal with it.” One of the trucks they appropriated was being used to ferry everyone to a safe location, along with both books of the dead and of the living. They would be turned over to the O’Connell family, to Sun O’Connell, seeing as she and Tom Hawass were now the guardians.   
  
  
**THAT NIGHT:**  
  
  
The commandeered truck rumbled through the silent streets of Luxor, heading towards the airport. Sun and Tom’s bags had been retrieved from the oasis but neither of them changed into normal clothes. They were both still processing the events of the day, sitting quietly, not looking at each other, or any anyone else. But they held hands.   
  
Lyla was still feeling the effects of the sedatives that had been used on her, while Ben was still in and out of consciousness. He had been dosed more than a few times to keep him easy to handle. She looked at his face, seeing it mottled with bruises and blood. They had beaten him, and he’d more than likely fought back, trying to get free. For a second, she closed her eyes and when she opened, they were pulling into a large hangar where a jet was being fueled. The back of the trucks flatbed was lowered and a few of the ground crew helped them all get down. It was hard to walk a straight line and Lyla stumbled more than a few times.   
  
Sun picked up her ruck sack and her duffle before getting out of the back of the truck. She held her hand out for Tom, waiting for him. It was finally time to leave Egypt behind and start to find some semblance of normalcy with the weight of the memories of their past uniting them. “You ready?” she asked as he jumped down.  
  
Tom took one last look out at Luxor through the large open hangar doors. Silently, his bid goodbye to the place he was born and then took Sun’s hand. “I am,” he answered. “Where are we going now?”  
  
“London,” Richard said. He handed a bundle to his daughter. It contained passports, money, and customs documents for the two crates that contained the book of the dead and the book of the living. “You’re going home to Carnahan manor.”  
  
Sun didn’t even argue; the days adventures had worn her out. She took the papers and nodded solemnly. “Are you going with us?” she asked.  
  
“No, I have to fly to Cairo to be with your mother and make arrangements for Avery to transport him to the states,” Richard answered. “When you get home, an estate lawyer will be waiting for you. Meet with him and sign the papers he’ll have waiting for you, per your grandfather’s will.” Contained in the bundle was a record of Sun and Tom breaking the family curse. It was finally over. For all of them.  
  
“Daddy… I…” Sun stammered.   
  
“Do this for me,” Richard said softly.  
  
“Okay,” Sun acknowledged. In the pack of papers was another bundle with the name of the law firm she assumed she would be meeting with upon her return home. Errol and Flynn. ‘ _Lawyers_ …’ she thought snidely. But, because her father asked her to do this, she would.  
  
  
**MID-FLIGHT:**  
  
  
Tom exited the small bathroom wearing a pair of khaki cargo pants, hiking boots, and a black t-shirt. He felt more like himself and less like he was walking around in Imhotep’s skin. The ancient clothes he had been in were folded and put in his satchel. He didn’t have the heart to leave them behind. Under his t-shirt, he wore the amulet because he couldn’t bear to take it off. He tried and just as the thick black braided cord was almost over his head, he dropped it back down around his neck. Better to leave it where it was.   
  
Going back to the large leather seats, Tom saw Sun was in exactly the same position she had been in when he went to change, and she was still wearing the clothes her sister had put her in. “Are you going to change?” he asked softly. Even though she looked amazing, he would’ve thought she’d want to distance herself from the reminder of a life they never truly got to live on their own terms.

“Not yet,” Sun replied, “I want to remember what it’s like for a little while longer.” She had set aside the past that belonged to Anck-Su-Namun and focused on Meela Nias.  Her two former incarnations had more in common than she did with them. Both had had their lives cut short through a series of bad choices. Sun resolved not to be like them, not to lose the one man in the world she knew she could love for the rest of her life. She knew she could do that because she had been raised an O’Connell.

“Remember what?” Tom asked curiously. “Do you remember Anck-Su-Namun’s time in the Underworld?”

“Not her,” Sun said shaking her head slowly. “Meela.”

Tom went silent. There were parts of Imhotep’s memories that were of Meela back in the 1930’s. He could recall what it was like to be nothing more than a reanimated cursed corpse. He remembered what it was like to have dark powers flowing through him and what it felt like to have them ripped out of his body.

“She was raised by the Red Guard after her parents were killed,” Sun said softly. “I think I know why my parents were in that accident and why the O’Connell’s found me.” She had read the accident reports from her parent’s car crash and the investigator suspected foul play. The brake lines in the car were cut.  It hadn’t made sense to her why the O’Connell’s took her in, but now she didn’t have to wonder any longer. They were looking for her, whether by her grandfather’s edict or through their own initiative.  Either way, her path had been irrevocably changed from that moment. 

“You think the Red Guard wanted to try for a third time at raising Imhotep?” Tom asked. The question made him sick to his stomach. If they had succeeded in getting their hands on Sun, she could’ve turned out to be a completely different person than the one sitting next to him. He could have had happen to him what Imhotep did to Meela.

“Yeah, I do, but because they couldn’t get their hands on me, they had no choice but to wait for another opportunity,” Sun replied. She shifted in her seat, leaned over, and rested her head on Tom’s shoulder. Closing her eyes, she breathed in and out, letting her body relax. It would be a while before they returned to London. When they were home, she would change clothes then, and then she would go and meet with the estate lawyer like her father wanted. 

Tom rested his check on top of Sun’s head. It was scary to think that some unknown enemy had been looming on the periphery of his life. An organization that had that kind of patience was one to be feared. Though, for now, he sensed that their interference in his life was over. He was still Tom Hawass, Egyptologist. He had new eyes in which to see the civilization he’d studied for so long, and most of what people believed to be true was utterly wrong. When his past life made sense to him, he would sit down and tell his tale, but that wouldn’t happen for a long time yet. 

When next Sun opened her eyes, the jet had just touched down on the tarmac. Her dreams were peaceful and unburdened by the past. She dreamed of a future or her and Tom, a life lived simply loving each other and being happy. It was finally within their grasp and that made her heart skip a beat. Getting up from her seat, she slipped on the robe to cover herself against the light spring chill in the London air. When she was home, she would change out of the past and into clothes that fit her present. Once the jet was in the private hangar, the door opened, she walked down the steps and took her bags from the ground grew that had opened the cargo hatch. 

“Ms. O’Connell, Mr. Hawass, Ms. Carnahan, Mr. Carnahan.” 

Sun acknowledged the man in a dark suit after he called their names. She knew the man was a friend of her father’s, who was now in the private security game. “Yes, Mr…?” 

“Derek Hunter,” he responded. “Your father hired my company to escort you home and to be your security detail for the next few months.” 

Ben, who was wide awake and only slightly hungover from the sedatives, asked, “So, you know the Red Guard are some crazy pillock’s with delusions of grandeur?”

“We weren’t told that in so many words, sir,” Derek replied coolly.

“Well, consider yourself informed,” Ben replied with a bit of a snap to his tone.

“Forgive my cousin,” Sun said apologetically, “he’s tired and doesn’t fly well. I assume there are two SUV’s to transport us to Carnahan manor?”

“This way,” Derek said, motioning for them to follow him out to where the two vehicles were waiting.

 

 

**CARNAHAN MANOR:**

 

 

Since being built, Carnahan Manor had changed very little, except to have the electrical wiring updated and a few renovations made. The inside décor hadn’t changed much since the 1930’s either. When Sun set foot inside, she felt like she was home and the events of the last week just melted away.  She took Tom’s hand, lacing their fingers together and said, “This was where I grew up.” 

“Lady O’Connell, Master Carnahan, Lady Carnahan, welcome home.”

“Frederick, good to see you,” Lyla said with a smile. It had been too long since she’d been home, but something told her she wouldn’t be here for long. She was eager to get back to New York, to see Andrew. 

“You’re still alive?” Ben asked in a joking manner to which Frederick merely sneered. He wasn’t worried. The old butler/caretaker had never really liked him from the moment he turned sixteen. Ben was too much a wild child and a rule breaker. 

Frederick tugged at the hem of his grey vest and then addressed the only O’Connell in the room by saying, “My lady, your rooms have been prepared for you as well as one for your gentleman. After you’ve had time to relax, to change, there will be food in the kitchen.”

“Thank you, Frederick. Mr. Hawass,” Sun said formally know how Frederick was a stickler for propriety, “won’t be needing the guest room. He’ll be staying with me in my room.”

Frederick bristled at that, but Sun O’Connell was an adult with a good head on her shoulders. He trusted her judgment. “I see.”

“Don’t worry, we’re too tired to do anything,” Sun said with a light laugh. At the end of the day, Frederick was a bit of a prude, and if she wasn’t so exhausted – mentally and physically – she would have teased him more.  She had to shower, dress in business clothes, and go to the estate lawyers like her father wanted. 

“Before you retire, my lady, a man from the firm of Errol and Flynn will be here this afternoon to meet with you,” Frederick informed her as was his duty. 

“Thank you,” Sun said, nodding in acknowledgement. Even better they should come to her. Then, with her hand in his, she pulled him towards the stairs.

Upstairs, Tom couldn’t focus his eyes on just one thing. There were too many antiquities for him to see, for him to want to study. But he didn’t get the chance because Sun was opening a door and leading him inside. The bedroom was the size of a suite at a very nice, upscale hotel. A large four poster bed was in the center, a couch near the fire place, and a desk under the window. “This was your room as a teen?” he asked. 

“It was,” Sun replied. “This was the room Grandpa Alex gave to me when I came to live here.” It was the same room Great-Uncle Jonathon had frequented. In her young age, she had taken steps to re-arrange things to make the room suit her taste. Even as a young woman she knew what she liked and how she wanted everything to be. Memories swam to the surface. The room’s setup reminded her of the bedroom Imhotep kept in the palace. 

Tom saw the shift in Sun. “What?” 

“I never knew why I moved the furniture around…” Sun said, her voice sounding far off. Even when she was young, her soul desired to be close to Imhotep in any way she could. 

“What do you mean?” Tom asked and then looked back at the bed, the chairs, and the couch. Recognition raced through him. This was the exact placing of furniture Imhotep had. It made him wonder if he’d done anything like this as a young man and just couldn’t remember doing it. 

“Seems the gods were steering me towards you even when I was young,” Sun replied. She shed her outer layer of desert garb, and then started removing the clothes that linked her to Anck-Su-Namun. The bond that spanned thousands of years wouldn’t go away simply because she took off her clothes, but it muted the echo slightly. 

“I thought you were tired?” Tom inquired as he pulled off his black t-shirt. He sensed her desire to put distance between their first lives and who they were now. It was the same way he felt. He was about to kick his boots off when her hand touched the amulet he still wore. On the plane he had tried to take it off, but something stopped him. 

“Does it bother you to know that when I look at you, I can see Imhotep just beneath the surface of your skin?” Sun asked as she took her top off, dropping it to the floor. Her long fall of dark hair covered her. She knew he had to be seeing Anck-Su-Namun whenever he looked at her, but when he looked at her, his eyes were filled with love.

“No,” Tom replied honestly. It should, and he knew it should, but it didn’t. “Does it bother you that I see Anck-Su-Namun when I look into your eyes?” he asked in return. Their past and present were too intertwined now for them to separate who they’d been from who they are. Tom tried not to think about it too much as it would hurt his head. He took the memories when they came, letting them wash over him like waves on a shore.

Sun shook her head and said, “No, it doesn’t.” She felt the same as him. Deep down in her heart, she knew the moment she stood in front of him on the street days ago that her life was never going to be hers alone anymore. From the first time her grandpa had told her the first story about the infamous lovers, she felt as if she was missing a piece in her life. Tom filled that void for her. “When I told you that I love you… I love you. It doesn’t matter whether I say it to you as Anck-Su-Namun or as Sun. I love you as Tom. I love you as Imhotep.” 

Tom had nothing to say to that. He pulled her close, kissing her deeply. His arms wrapped around her waist, his fingers slightly digging into the skin of her lower back. This was the woman he’d known in the ancient world, the woman he loved more than anything. He would love her just as fiercely in this life. She was the missing half of his soul.

 

 

*******

 

 

A little while later, Sun was curled against Tom’s side as they relaxed in a large porcelain bathtub, the hot water soothing away the adventure in the desert. The sense of déjà vu, however, hadn’t faded. As she listened to him breathing and the way the water lapped against the edge of the tub, she remembered another evening when they had been immersed in a warm pool. The sun had been setting on another day and the Pharaoh was already passed out from too much beer and good food. This was the first time they had dared to be together outside of the shadows. “This is nice,” she muttered, snuggling closer to him.  
  
“That it is,” Tom replied, kissing the top of her head. His voice was light and sounded far away. “I’m reminded of the Summer Solstice you and I were in the pool behind the temple.” That evening, he thought he wouldn’t see her because Pharaoh had wanted to take his pleasure. But he’d gotten the shock of his life when he found her in the temple wearing a small smile. She wasn’t painted. She was dressed simply in a shear gold dress that served to cover the skimpy undergarments she was wearing.   
  
“You took my hand and led me out back where very few ventured,” Sun replied. That evening they had acted more like children than lovers. He pulled her into the cooling water and then she splashed him. They had laughed and carried on for what felt like hours. Then, when they were worn out and drunk on laughter, they stretched out in the shallow water to watch the stars. It had been more fun than she had had in a long time. “That was the moment I really started to love you,” she said and placed a kiss to his chest.   
  
“I loved you from the first moment I saw you,” Tom replied to her. Before meeting Sun, he wasn’t a man to believe in destiny or in true love. With her he’d been slammed by both and he never wanted to look back. He never wanted to go back to a life where he didn’t have her. It had been a cold, lonely life he’d lived. His work, his studies, had always come first, and he felt as if he’d been going through life walking through a fog. Now, he was complete. It only took three thousand years.  
  
Sun was about to respond to him when a knock sounded at the bedroom door; two short, sharp raps. Years of living in the manor told her that it was time to get out, get dressed and go down to eat. “Our time of relaxing is over,” she said with a chuckle. Right on cue her stomach rumbled. It had been close to a couple of days since they had last eaten anything substantial.   
  
  
**DINING ROOM:**  
  
  
Tom was practically drooling by the time he and Sun entered the dining room to find the table laden with fresh fruit, baked goods, and freshly brewed coffee. Lyla and Ben were already seated, devouring plates of food, barely sparing them a glance as they walked over to their seats. Propriety wouldn’t keep him from devouring the food on his plate. He was only mindful of not turning into some gluttonous monster, shoveling food in his face while making a total mess. He was starving. 

Sun sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee first. She had to have caffeine before she did anything else. Taking that first sip had her moaning in delight. It was as if she could feel the caffeine soaking into her, waking her up molecule by molecule. She sat back in her chair, holding the mug between her hands. Savoring the moment, she closed her eyes and thought of nothing except her coffee.  She blindly took another sip, waking up another fraction. 

Tom stopped eating to stare at Sun. She sat back, her eyes closed, and wore a look of pure exquisite bliss. He realized that this look was all Sun O’Connell. This was the present persona that enjoyed the simple things like morning coffee and the quiet. He leaned his elbows on the edge of the table and pressed his mouth against his hands, so he could watch her for as long as he could. She took slow even breaths in between sips and looked to be content. He could sit and watch her for a hundred years and never tire of the serenity he could feel coming off her.  
  
Sun opened her eyes and stared at Tom. His eyes were alight with happiness because of her. She set her coffee mug down and reached out for a slice of tart green apple where she dipped it into the bowl of honey. While her gaze was still linked with his, she took a bite, the sound of her teeth sinking into the meat of the apple echoed between them. No memories surfaced; no sense of déjà vu clouded the moment between them. This was just them. While things were quiet, she continued to eat and drink her coffee.

“Do you know what happened to Sarah?” Lyla asked. Sun was sufficiently caffeinated, so she would be able to hold an actual conversation. The last glimpse she had had of Sarah had been when she walked into the temple, presumably to confront Sun. “Did you kill her?”

Sun shook her head and then looked at Lyla. “I didn’t,” she answered. In the tomb she had realized that confronting Sarah was only part of it all. She made the choice to protect Tom and not fight. Fighting had been Anck-Su-Namun’s choice, and it ended in her taking her own life. Sun wasn’t going to go down that path again.

“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about that,” Lyla answered honestly. After all this, she kind of hoped that Sun would have found a way to permanently stop Sarah from ever hurting anyone again.

“We’re alive, be happy about that,” Ben grumbled. He knew the moment his body felt like his again, he was going to indulge in some cathartic revenge. Gavin had sold them out, had sold Sun out, and had to be dealt with. He would take care of that himself. Lyla had a life to get back to in the United States, as well as a new man. Ben couldn’t keep her from that. Sun wasn’t about to leave Tom to run off to fulfill a revenge fantasy he’d cooked up.

“At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I beat her, and I didn’t have to harm her in any way, shape, or form,” Sun stated proudly. She stood tall against her sister and chose the better path, chose Tom. And it was that choice that broke the curse. If she had killed her sister, she might have made things worse for everyone as well as leave an indelible black mark on her soul.

“What about the books?” Lyla asked. She had seen them on display at the encampment and had watched as Sarah picked up the book of the dead, carrying it into the temple. For a little while, she had feared the worst; that she would never see Sun again.

“We have them,” Tom answered. He could feel the book of the dead calling to him even now. It was currently down in the basement, locked away in one of the gun safes. Sun hadn’t elaborated on why the tomes were no in their care and he hadn’t pushed for any of explanation either. They were here, locked up, and out of the hands of those who would try to do them harm. 

“Don’t worry,” Sun said to Lyla. “They are out of sight, out of mind.” She reached over and took her cousin’s hand, squeezing gently.

“Lady O’Connell, Mr. Hawass, would you please join me in the library?” Frederick asked, standing by the open doors of the dining room.

 

 

**LIBRARY:**

 

 

Gerard Flynn was a man of advanced years, having been in practice for forty years. He handled the division of assets between the O’Connell children, but the resolution of Carnahan manor was yet to be taken care of. Alex O’Connell had stipulated that the manor was to be held in trust until such time the family curse was broken. Gerard didn’t put any stock in curses or any such hoodoo like that. At least, that had been his stance until he received a call from Richard O’Connell, the youngest son of the late Alex.   
  
Gerard, however, would not be meeting with Richard. He would be meeting with the youngest daughter, Sun. She would have a few items for him to review and then she would have papers to sign. To be honest with himself, he was happy to resolve the matter of Carnahan manor. It had been held in trust too long. While he waited for the young woman, he reviewed the video file that had been sent to him from Richard.   
  
At first the picture was black. Gerard leaned forward trying to make out shapes of any kind when torch light blazed to life making him jump. The scene before him was of two bodies lying in open Egyptian caskets. It was as if this was an Egyptian themed horror movie. Strangely, he was fascinated by what he was watching. Gerard his pause, though. He opened a wax sealed letter, written by Alex.  
  
_Mr. Flynn,  
  
By now, I assume you have seen with your own eyes that the curse that has loomed over my family is indeed quite real. And if you’re reading this, one of my children, or grandchildren, have broken it. Per my final instructions, the manor is to go to the child or grandchild that did the deed. Contained within this letter you will find everything is in order and the papers will match the ones you had me sign years ago.   
  
Sincerely,  
  
Alex O’Connell._  
  
Gerard once more turned his attention back to the tablet screen. The scene before him had changed. “Sweet mother of God…” he exhaled, scarcely believing his eyes. The library doors opened tearing Gerard’s attention away from the screen once more. Standing in the doorway was Sun wearing tan colored linen pants and a simple v-neck white short sleeved t-shirt. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a braid, but he couldn’t help but see her as she had been in he video. Ancient Egyptian. “What the hell did I just watch?”  
  
Sun slipped her hands in her from pockets and rocked back on her heels. “My family curse being broken, I would guess.” The only way for him to have witnessed it second hand would be if there had been camera’s set up in the burial chamber. Small ones at that. Her father thought of everything.   
  
Gerard wanted this over as quickly as possible. “Sign these and our business will be concluded.”   
  
Sun took a seat in front of him, picking up the papers as she did so. She looked them over and then looked at Mr. Flynn. “Are you kidding me?”   
  
“Per your grandfathers Last Will and Testament, the family member that breaks the curse is given Carnahan manor with all the titles that come with it,” Gerard answered, pointing to the tabs indicating where she had to sign.   
  
“The lands and titles transfer to me?” Sun asked in disbelief as she flipped through the papers, skimming the legalese typed out in black letters. It also meant she inherited her grandfather’s place with the Bembridge Scholars. She would be Lady Carnahan, for whatever that was worth.  
  
“Yes, and once I file the paperwork, I will lock this –” Gerard waved his table in the air, “– in a safe and will never speak of it again. I don’t truly believe what I’ve seen, but to fulfill my duty to Alex O’Connell, I don’t really have to.”  
  
Sun turned in her seat and looked at Tom. He was leaning against the door jam, with his arms crossed over his chest. All he did was nod, telling her it was okay to sign. She didn’t hesitate. Sun signed every tab she was supposed to. When every paper had been signed, she sighed in relief. It was done. The manor now belonged to her.   
  
  
**ONE YEAR LATER:**  
  
  
So much had happened to Tom in the year since he’d met Sun. He’d learned about his past while falling in love with an amazing woman. She was given her family’s manor estate and they moved in a month after she signed the papers. He was given papers giving him the ability to live in Britain with Sun. They had returned to the states to tie up a few things, and for her to pack a few bags from the brownstone. She was giving Lyla free reign of it, so she had a place t explore her new relationship with Andrew. When they returned to England, Ben was gone. He left a note saying he was going after Gavin. Sun had only shaken her head and tossed the note in the nearest bin. Life had never been sweeter for them.   
  
Tom stood next to their bed, holding the Egyptian Mau they had named Isis in his arms. Attached to her collar via a string was a silver coiled serpent ring reminiscent of the golds on Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had worn. He had found a silver smith willing to make them and had picked them up yesterday. To surprise her, he set Isis down on the bed and watched as the cat went to her mistress, headbutting her.  
  
Sun groaned after something bumped into her cheek. Then she groaned again when she opened her eyes to see Isis getting ready for another headbutt. “What’re you doing funny face?” she asked, her voice still filled with sleep. When she could see better, she saw something shiny dangling from her black collar. Sun sat up, picking up her cat. Then she saw Tom and the silver serpent on his finger. Laughing lightly, she pulled the string free, and then took the ring off of it.  
  
Tom sat on the edge of the bed, holding his hand out for the ring. She moved over to him and dropped it into his palm. He took her right hand and slipped the ring on her finger. “They had known each other a year before he dared to give her a token of his affection. I thought it fitting to do the same,” he said and then kissed her knuckles.   
  
Sun looked at him with all the love she had for him. “It’s beautiful,” she said and cupped his face with her left hand, her thumb caressing his cheek. Today was going to be hard enough and he couldn’t go with her. Six months ago, she learned that Sarah had been moved to New Bedlam hospital. Her father asked her to go and talk with the doctors, as well as check on Sarah. She and Tom had discussed it last night and it was best if he remained home to work on his book.   
  
“Want me to at least ride with you to Bedlam?” Tom asked. If she wanted, he would ride all the way there, sit on one of the benches outside, and wait for her. Seeing her sister would do a number of things to her and he wanted to be there for her the moment she needed him.   
  
“No, baby,” Sun said with a smile. “You stay here and work on your book.” Before she got out of bed, she leaned in and kissed him, falling into the power of his taste. She pulled back after a few seconds, “I could do that all day, but not right now.” Sun kissed him quickly and then got out of bed. She headed into the connecting bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. As always, her reflection showed her ancient appearance. When she blinked it was gone, like it was nothing more than a trick of the light. Reflected now was Sun as she chose to appear. Her hair was cut short to her shoulders and her bangs had grown out down to her jaw. She still wore the amulet that marked her as Anck-Su-Namun, but she had worked to make it her own. Every day since learning the truth of her first life, she felt more confident in her modern life.   
  
After a shower, Sun dressed in black leggings, matching knee-high black boots, a white undershirt, and navy-blue button up dress shirt. The amulet prominently on display. Then she made up her face with black eyeliner, a light dusting of gold blush along her cheekbones, and gold lip gloss painting her lips. It was a blend of her first life and this life living in harmony in the modern world. As a final touch, she added the silver serpent ring. In this moment she felt like Lady Carnahan. True, the title held no real power, but it was a nice feeling none the less. This was the life her father and her grandfather wanted for her.

 

 

**NEW BEDLAM HOSPITAL:**  
  
  
Sun stepped out of the car with two Medjai bodyguards in tow. They had been a recent addition from her Uncle Ja’Kal. She had argued against having them following her and Tom around all the time, but he prevailed in the end. She might be safe for the moment, but the Red Guard hadn’t been eradicated and she was still in danger. So was Tom. It was because of Tom that she relented and let the Medjai guard her. She was the closest thing to ‘Royal’ authority they had seen in eighty years, so she had to suck it up and let them protect her.  
  
Sun looked up at the brand new building and nearly turned right around to get back in the car. She was no longer that eighteen-year-old girl that had been nearly killed by her sister. She was an adventurer. She was Lady of Carnahan manor. She was continuing the Carnahan tradition of having a seat on the board of Bembridge Scholars. She was Anck-Su-Namun reincarnated. And she would use every ounce of courage she had today. Squaring her shoulders, she walked up the stairs and into the hospital with her guards in tow.  
  
Inside, Sun was met by Dr. Hayden Matthews. His sandy blond hair was disheveled, and his face set with worry lines. “Is everything all right with my sister, Doctor?” she asked as she pulled out a file folder that contained documents the hospital would need. While their father was away on business, he had granted her temporary medical power of attorney. Avery was in no fit state to make decisions. He was in the states, in a rehabilitation center learning to walk again. Sarah hadn’t been the one to put their brother in the hospital. It had been Mustafa Khalid.  
  
“As I explained to your father, Ms… I mean Lady Carnahan… you being the guardian of your sister is not a good idea,” Matthews explained quickly, running his hand through his hair. He had been on Sarah O’Connell’s case for six months and had seen little improvement in her condition. She was managing on meds, but there were few good days for her. Having her sister anywhere near her would do more harm than good.   
  
“I’m the only one here,” Sun replied, thrusting the folder into his hands. “Our brother has a long road of recovery ahead of him, not to mention he is on some pretty heavy pain meds. He’s in no fit state to make decisions for Sarah. Our father and mother are away on business and won’t be back for months. Her pathetic excuse for a husband OD’d last month in a Los Angeles motel. I’m all you have, doctor.”  
  
Matthews flipped through the papers, seeing that everything was in order, and legal. The correct papers were notarized and contained Richard O’Connell’s signature, as well as Sun O’Connell-Carnahan’s. “Seems I don’t have much choice but to discuss her case with you,” he grumbled. “Your goons are going to have to stay down here.”  
  
Sun bristled at that. “My ‘goons’ are actually Medjai, sacred bodyguards. Your patient is the reason I need them,” she seethed. Her tone had the desired effect. The doctor recoiled from her and looked momentarily ashamed of himself.   
  
“Yes, your father told me what transpired between the two of you in Egypt,” Matthews responded.  
  
Sun nodded. Her father had given the doctor the broad strokes of the events. While Matthews continued to scan through the legal papers, she spoke to her guards, ordering them to remain where they were. They didn’t like it, but they obeyed none the less.   
  
Up on the fourth floor, Matthews led Lady Carnahan down to his office. After they spoke, then they would go up to the fifth floor where the locked ward was for the more violent patients. He motioned for her to take a seat. “First, I would like to reiterate how terrible I believe it is for you to be here. Ms. O’Connell is in a precarious state with dramatic ups and downs. Seeing you could undo what little progress I’ve made with her.”   
  
“I understand. Your duty is to your patient, first and foremost. Believe me, I only want what’s best for her. So, let’s talk. When we were in Egypt, my sister seemed particularly cogent while still remaining in the grips of a delusional state. During her initial lab work did they ever find evidence of a strange compound in her blood that would explain things?” Sun asked.   
  
Matthews didn’t recall reading anything about drugs being detected in her blood work. He pulled out her chart and flipped to the pages that were faxed over from the first facility she was in. “The lab results don’t show any foreign substances present in her blood at the time.”  
  
“What meds are you using to curtail the severity of her attacks?” Sun asked, being diplomatic. Medication for schizophrenics was basic mixology. Finding the right dosage, as well as combination, took trial and error, and often times left behind dangerous side-effects that were worse than the actual mental ailment.   
  
Matthews handed over a list of the medications they were trying and said, “She seems to be responding to this regimen, but there is no exact science to this, sadly.”  
  
“I understand, doctor.” Sun looked over the list and then handed it back to him. “I’d like to see her now, if I could?”  
  
“Please, Lady Carnahan…”   
  
“At the first sign of an episode, you’ll intervene,” Sun interrupted him. “In fact, I insist on you monitoring us. You’ll be the best to judge if she’s about to become violent.”  
  
“I wish you would come back on another day,” Matthews pleaded. Sarah was having a good day, but to put her face to face with her sister…. He wasn’t sure what it would do to her demeanor.   
  
“Dr. Matthews, this will be the only time I will be in your facility. From now on, should there be decisions that need to be made, we will do so over video conference. It has been a year since I’ve seen my sister, and after today, it will be the last time.” Sun had had a dual purpose for coming here. It was to say goodbye. She had already made the break with Avery when she had been in New York. She would afford Sarah the same curtesy.   
  
Matthews nodded, reluctantly. He got up and took her up to the next floor.   
  
  
**FIFTH FLOOR:**  
  
  
Sun stood just inside the day room, watching Sarah curled up in a chair, reading a book. To look at her now, she didn’t appear to be suffering from any form of schizophrenia. In response to that, Sun touched her throat; to this day she could still feel Sarah’s hands squeezing the life out of her. Dr. Matthews moved around her and walked over to where Sarah was sitting. He knelt down to have a word with her. When their father called, Sun would tell him that Sarah was in capable hands. A few seconds later, Matthews was motioning for her to come over.   
  
Sun relaxed her posture and strode over at a leisurely pace, so as not to alarm Sarah. She took a seat in the chair across from her sister, draping her right knee over her left, and interlocked her fingers. “Hi, Sarah,” Sun said softly.   
  
“Sun,” Sarah acknowledged, blinking twice. “Where’s father?” she asked. It was hard to keep one thought in her head at a time. There was relief from the paranoia, but it cost her.   
  
“Out of the country, with mother,” Sun answered. She glanced at Matthews, nodding once, signaling him to leave them alone. “Avery is doing well with her therapy, but he still has a long road ahead of him.” She didn’t tell her about Paul. Sarah had never really loved him, nor had he loved her. Paul had only been interested in the O’Connell family fortune and how many drugs he could buy with it.  
  
“So, I’m stuck with you…?” Sarah grumbled.   
  
“This will be the only time you’ll see me, Sarah,” Sun stated.  
  
“What is this? Some self-help kind of crap?” Sarah rolled her eyes. She knew she was never leaving the institution.   
  
“No,” Sun replied, shaking her slowly. “I forgive you, Sarah.” Her father had often told her he admired her for her remarkable ability to forgive, no matter the wrong done to her. It was another thing that set her apart from Anck-Su-Namun. Her first incarnation could never forgive anything that had happened to her. “You’ll be the sister I want you to be, and I know that now. So, I’ve come to say goodbye and to hope you find some measure of peace.”  
  
Sarah scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You get the life that should have been mine, and you dare to come here talking about forgiveness. What a joke? That day… you should have died with your parents.” It had been the worst day of her life when four-year-old Sun had come home with her parents. That was the day it all fell apart. Grandfather Alex knew immediately who little Sun would grow up to be and she was all but forgotten about.   
  
Sun nodded and then stood up. “Goodbye, Sarah.” She had accomplished what she set out to do. The last lingering ties she had to her sister were severed. She stopped by Dr. Matthews, momentarily resting her hand on his shoulder. Silently, she told him that that was all she needed and that her sister was permanently in his care. Without so much as a backwards glance, Sun walked out of the day room, and headed towards the elevator. 

  
  
*****

  
  
Outside, joined by the two Medjai guards, Sun stopped short of the car. There, Tom was resting against the back door, his arms crossed over his chest; the sun glinting off his silver serpent ring. They closed the distance between each other, stopping short of actually touching. She brought her hand up, caressing the air above his face. Tom closed his eyes and moaned. He responded in kind, touching the air inches above her face, and then dropped his hands down to her shoulders. She claimed his lips in a passionate kiss, throwing her arms over his shoulders. Tom wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, holding her against him.   
  
Tom set Sun back on her feet, breaking the seal of their lips. He touched his forehead to hers, breathing harshly. She stole his breath every time they kissed. He couldn’t get enough of her. “I know you wanted me to stay home, but I had to be here for you,” he said softly, before kissing her brow lightly.   
  
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Sun replied softly and held him tighter. “I confronted Sarah and broke all emotional ties to her.” A year ago, she would have willingly gone to war against her sister for the fate of Tom’s future, but pretty soon she realized that was not he confrontation she had to have. Fighting was easy. Forgiving and letting go was the true test of strength and character. Sun had done the hardest thing ever. She let go of her sister and all the baggage that went with her. In the process she gained the love of her life, her family home, and much more.

“You ready to go home?” Tom asked, leaning back without taking his arms from around.

“I’m ready to live my life,” Sun said happily. She kissed him once more and then they got in the car. The drive back the manor was different. It was the start of their future together and the life they had the chance to live out in the open, not secreted away in shadows.

 

 

**THE END**


End file.
